Earthquake myth?

Question

I have heard my whole life in Life Science and even high school sophomore Biology that some animals can detect seismic activity and act abnormal before an earthquake strikes.

On the news today, they said that it is a myth that animals can detect seismic activity.

Anyone know the real truth?

Answer 1

yes, its true. some, i repeat SOME, animals act abnormally as a warning of a upcoming earthquake.

Answer 2

i think so. i heard animals can feel and or hear seismic activity before we can. not sure tho. but there was this huge ant problem in my house like an hour before the chino hills earthquake

Answer 3

every animal reacts differently......

Answer 4

I think they are just more in tune and able to feel the quake quicker than we do. I remember a few years ago laying on the floor watching TV when my cat suddenly jumped up, dug all four paws into the carpet, all her hair standing straight up. Before I could react, I felt that familiar ripple as the shocks ran through the ground.

Answer 5

I remember in california waking up one night because the night had suddenly become "too quiet". all of a sudden the crickets, frogs, mockingbirds and everything else went strangely silent. A few minutes later I experienced an earthquake. So something alerted the usual outdoors critters that an earthquake was coming.

It doesn't happen every time and many earthquakes have come without any unusual animal behavior, but it certainly did that time.

Answer 6

A great question. I have asked my self the same thing many times. Some animals react before threatening weather like thunderstorms. Supposedly, they also can detect seismic activity before it occurs.

A logical conclusion would be that they can feel tremors in the ground that occur before an earthquake.

Anything said would be heavy speculation until there is proof.