Animals can sense the physical changes that occur in groundwater before an earthquake explodes.
Scientists began to begin research to decipher the effects of physics related to the sixth sense in animals, after locals noticed the army toad had flooded. From their pond in L’Aquila (Italy) in 2009. Some time later, the region suffered an earthquake. L’Aquila toads are not the first example of an animal’s strange behavior before a seismic event. Historically, it has happened on numerous occasions that herds of reptiles, amphibians and fish have behaved erratically just before an earthquake struck the area.
For example, in 1975, residents of Hai Thanh city in southern Liaoning Province (China) suddenly saw countless snakes come out of their caves and crawl on the road during the cold winter. Usually this is a snake’s dormant phase, and with temperatures below 0 ° C, crawling in the middle of the road is like an act of suicide with this cold blooded reptile. However, a month later, a magnitude seven earthquake rocked the entire region, killing more than 2,000 people.
Cases like these, ranging from reptiles like awake snakes, to migrating toads or deep-sea fish emerging near the water’s surface, are often just unique anecdotes. During this time, severe earthquakes appear quite rarely, making it difficult for scientists to relate these events to each other and it is difficult to study the actual impact until the battle takes place. As noted by expert Rachel Grant from the British Open University, the toad population increased from almost 100 in 3 days in a pond in this area. After recording the event in the Journal Zoology observations, Grant received a call from the United States Aerospace Agency (NASA), according to the BBC. The NASA team led by Friedemann Freund was studying the physical changes that occur when rock in the Earth’s crust is under enormous stress. They wonder if these changes are related to the massive migration of toads?
Combined with this study, a team of UK and US experts found evidence that animal behavior can be used to predict earthquakes. According to a report published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, scientists describe a mechanism by which parts of the earth’s crust rub against each other (due to the enormous repulsion of tectonic plates) release particles loaded interactive. When ions escape near the ground, they interact with groundwater or the surrounding air. These positively charged ions can cause headaches and vomiting in humans, and increase the dose of serotonin, the stress hormone in the blood of animals, according to Dr. Freund. When they interact with water, they can turn into a toxic mixture of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). That is why toads are forced to quickly leave in such an aquatic environment.
This is the first time that the mechanism leading to the prophetic behavior of an animal has been scientifically proven, says Dr Freund. His team believe it’s time scientists recognized the body’s sixth sense to accurately predict the likelihood of an earthquake.
