Earthquake Detection

[paigetheoracle]

As Earthquakes equal vibration, could the Boxing Day tsunami have been picked up by animals, hence their migration from the shores of affected areas, either felt or heard? I know of quake sensitive people, like Petra Challus, who claim to hear a high pitched whine before a quake and I wondered if there was any evidence of this?

[Eclogite]

The issue of animal detection of earthquakes is disputed territory, since the data are almost entirely anecdotal. Here are some interesting papers on the subject:

 

Earthquake Prediction by Animals: Evolution and Sensory Perception

Kirschvink proposes a model by which such behaviour could have evolved, though acknowledging the evidence for the behaviour is purely anecdotal.

 

Buskirk et al focus on the greater sensitivity of some animals to potential precursor signals: Unusual animal behavior before earthquakes: A review of possible sensory mechanisms.

 

And in this paper, Unusual Childhood Waking as a Possible Precursor of the 1995 Kobe Earthquake, the authors suggest there is statistical evidence to suggest young children may have been sensitive to ultra low frequency electromagnetic waves.

 

While here,Ground Water Chemistry Changes before Major Earthquakes and Possible Effects on Animals, the authors seek to link animal behaviour to changes in groundwater chemistry that may precede an earthquake.

 

There are hundreds of studies on this issue, many of them with inventive explanations for the postulated behaviour. What is lacking thus far is a clear, unambigious demonstration that the phenomenon is real, or that any mechanism has been identified with confidence.

[Mark007]

Regardless of the the disputed information regarding animal detection I think it is very plausible that many animals do have this ability. It has been observed repeatedly that animals, fish, birds, reptiles, and insects exhibiting strange behavior anywhere from weeks to seconds before an earthquake.

[Turtle]

Regardless of the the disputed information regarding animal detection I think it is very plausible that many animals do have this ability. It has been observed repeatedly that animals, fish, birds, reptiles, and insects exhibiting strange behavior anywhere from weeks to seconds before an earthquake.

The problem is there is little to no taking note of other things going on that could have caused strange animal behavior at the time of quakes (fire, thirst, insect infestation, etc. ), as well as no one keeping records of strange behavior when there are no quakes.

 

Even if animals are reacting to an impending quake there is no way to use this as a prediction because of the above reasons.

[Eclogite]

The problem is there is little to no taking note of other things going on that could have caused strange animal behavior at the time of quakes (fire, thirst, insect infestation, etc. ), as well as no one keeping records of strange behavior when there are no quakes.

 

Even if animals are reacting to an impending quake there is no way to use this as a prediction because of the above reasons.

And in addition to these points, if the researcher is biased to a belief that animals can predict a quake, those researchers are more likely to see abnormal behaviour within normal patterns.

 

I would be surprised if it were ultimately demonstrated that there was no such phenomenon, but the evidence to date is certainly not convincing: it lacks the rigour and consistency need for that.