Does a lunar or solar eclipse cause any physiological effects on people?

Question

Okay, what about animals?

Answer 1

A Solar Eclipse makes everything on earth alot lighter than what it originally is.

Answer 2

Hi P!

Eclipses, especially a solar eclipse, can fool people and animals, but there are no lasting effects on anyone.

Birds sense that night is coming as the partial eclipse deepens, and may head for their nests.  As soon as the eclipse is over, however, they come right back out.

The greatest effect I have observed is that, when a solar eclipse is expected, quite a number of people become panicky that others might go out and observe the eclipse.  Children are barricaded inside school buildings with the window blinds tightly closed, denying the kids any chance of seeing the most sublime spectacle in all of nature.  The adults have been told that even a fleeting glimpse of the eclipse causes instant blindness!  This behavior is reminiscent of ancient superstitions that dragons or evil spirits were the cause of eclipses.

By the way, most of the well-treaded stories of European explorers fending off or frightening native people with threats to use their magic powers to extinguish the sun are apochryphal.  During a partial eclipse, unless you already know what is happening, you can't tell that the sun is disappearing.  Until the moment of totality, it's too dazzlingly bright.  The moment of totality is so rare and so short and fleeting that it's unlikely our explorer would find himself in the cooking pot at precisely that moment.

I suppose that the Great White Explorer could turn the trick during an eclipse of the moon, but lunar eclipses are so common that it's unlikely too many of the tribesman would be fooled.  If a young brave were to panic, one of the elders would just remind him that the same thing happened six months before!