Defective Human Earthquake Sensing

[Marat]

Goats, buffalos, and other hoofed mammals have been noted to migrate away from areas which are about to be struck by earthquakes, but they do this long before humans are able to sense any impending shifts. One theory offered to account for the ability of these animals to sense oncoming quakes is that they somehow perceive the electromagnetic effects of rocks being fractured in the processes leading up to earthquakes. But if this is so, then why don't human mammals have this same capacity?

[SMF]

Marat, in order to answer your query one first needs to know if this phenomenon is real. There is a lot of anecdotal evidence, which is notoriously unreliable, and there are also good researchers on both sides of the issue. If I remember correctly there are some Japanese researchers who have studied animal behavior relative to earthquakes and claim to have scientific evidence of a relationship while studies by others, such as USGS scientists, have been unable to find a reliable relationship. Personally, living in California, I have felt numerous earthquakes, big and small, and have never noticed any of my critters (chickens, cats, dogs, bees, hamsters, and so on) even take notice of the actual earthquake. SM

[Holland44]

Animals almost always have sharper senses than humans, probably because they lack the phenomenon of reason, and emotion. I think it is likely that some animals will feel the EQ coming on before the ground starts shaking.

Edited February 25, 2011 by Holland44

[guitarborist]

As a geologist I say most earthquake pre-detection is unfounded anecdotes.

 

The previous two postings are correct. These animals have no senses that we do not have other than increased acuity in some of these senses. However, seismologists have experimented with technology that is multiple times more sensitive.

 

An earthquake is a very straight forward occurrence. The physics are simple. No strange forces happening. We just can't physically measure the variables involved.

[John Cuthber]

"Animals almost always have sharper senses than humans"

I'm fairly sure that my colour vision is better than a nautilus. It's also probably better than my neighbour's cat's monochrome version, at least in good light..

 

 

If the phenomenon is real (which I doubt) it could be as simple as "goats don't have much else to think about" or "goats, with 4 feet, are better coupled to the ground so they can sense the fore-shocks better.

 

Why invoke magic like "they somehow perceive the electromagnetic effects of rocks being fractured"?

[Marat]

The notion of the electromagnetic signature of rocks cracking prior to the more overt manifestation of earthquakes giving some animals a warning was taken from the 1998 study of the phenomenon of apparent early detection of earthquakes by animals. The Japanese scientists suggested this as their tenative hypothesis for the phenomenon.

 

Other anecdotal evidence of early animal detection of earthquakes comes from the Indian Ocean tsunami of December, 2004, when thousands of humans were killed but many species of animals concentrated in those same areas seemed to have avoided any loss of life. In traditional Chinese culture the catfish is regarded as being able to give early indications of an impending earthquake by its responses, and some associate this ability with its vibration-sensitive lateral line pores.