The Foreboding of Animals
In the hours before an earthquake, animals act strangely. Dogs bark and bark. Horses kick at barn walls. Cats stare at things no one else sees or they run about as they were being run after. People would have seen animals do such things. The animals seem to know that something is about to happen. One woman's pet turtle suddenly laid an egg. It had never done that before. The next day there was a quake. After the quake, the turtle ate its egg! A man woke up hungry one night. He got up to get something to eat. And he says that his pet fish were jumping. Two fish even jumped straight out of the bowl. A few hours later a quake hit the town.
In Alaska some brown bears woke up early from their sleep. They came out of their holes on the run. No one had ever seen them do that. A day later there was a quake.
At times there are quakes under the sea. Then a great wall of water may wash over the land. Animals seem to sense the danger. In one place the birds flew away from the water. Cows left their fields near the sea. They moved to the hills. Soon the fields were flooded.
Some places have more quakes than others have. People who live in those places have learned to watch their pets. In a town in china some years ago the animals seemed to go wild. Chickens ran up and down. Dogs would not stop barking. Mice and rats ran out of their homes. Two days later a big quake hit. Most of the houses feel down. But no one was in them. No one was hurt. The wildness of the animals had saved many lives.
People who study earthquakes would like to know what the animals know. It's not magic. Cats and dogs may feel the ground move in ways that people cannot. Animals may hear sounds that tell them something is wrong. And when they are scared, animals act strangely.
Animals may help people learn about earthquakes. Someday we may be able to tell when a quake is going strike. And that could save lives, as it once did in China.
