Despite the testimonies of many animals that observed strange behavior before earthquakes and earthquakes, science still rejects the hypothesis that these creatures can predict natural disasters.
Historical records indicate that the inhabitants of ancient Greece witnessed a mass escape of animals such as rats and snakes from their areas, before a strong earthquake that occurred in approximately 373 BC.
Similar stories followed, in which the narrators say they saw fish and birds showing strange behavior before an earthquake.
Such anecdotes have intrigued researchers, who are using the latest technology to monitor various animals that are said to predict earthquakes early.
Important investigation
Martin Wikelski of the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior in Germany led an important investigation into the changing behavioral patterns among a group of animals days before an earthquake hit their habitats.
According to a report by the Turkish "TRT" website, Wikelski planted sensors on 6 cows, 5 sheep and 2 dogs that were in an earthquake-prone area of northern Italy.
The animals were monitored for several months before and during a series of earthquakes that hit their habitat.
Wikelski and his team of researchers collected data that revealed a change in the behavior of farm animals 20 hours before the earthquake.
The animals showed 50 percent more activity during the 45-minute time frame compared to the previous days.
Through a series of calculations, the researchers accurately predicted an earthquake with a magnitude above 4.
Using the same method, the researchers predicted 7 out of 8 major earthquakes.
US geologist Joseph L. Kirschvink described this phenomenon in a scientific study published in 2000, saying that many animals can sense a "B" wave (it is one of the two main types of elastic body waves, called seismic waves in seismology. B waves travel faster than other seismic waves, and therefore they are The first signal from an earthquake reaches any affected site or a seismograph)
The researchers explained that the current genetic makeup of a wide range of vertebrates allows reporting of "early warning" behaviors for other types of events, and it is possible that some animals mimic this behavior and have turned it into a "seismic flight response."
Scientists still have a lot of research into this phenomenon to confirm the possibility of using animal behavior as one of the tools for predicting strong earthquakes.