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Toads sense earthquake days in advance
photo by e³°°° (source: Flickr Creative Commons)
A British study on toads in Italy shows strong evidence that the amphibians can detect earthquakes days before they happen. According to a report from BBC News, toads that were being studied in L’Aquila, Italy last year produced no spawn during an earthquake period, which begins at the main shock and continues to the last aftershock.
What’s even more remarkable is that the toads fled the earthquake area days before the event – a 6.3-magnitude quake, near L’Aquila city, 95km (60 miles) from Rome – took place.
Five days before the earthquake, the number of male common toads in the breeding colony fell by 96%. [...] Three days before the earthquake, the number of breeding pairs also suddenly dropped to zero.
–BBC News
The findings are documented in a report written for the Journal of Zoology by Open University a life scientist Rachel Grant.
From an article in the Guardian:
There could be several mechanisms for animals to sense the beginnings of an earthquake, wrote Grant in the Journal of Zoology. They could detect seismic waves directly or ground tilt (which can occur in the minutes before a quake). In addition there might be anomalies in the Earth’s magnetic field.
Another cause could be disruptions in the ionosphere, which have been associated with previous earthquakes and occurred at the time of the quake at L’Aquila. Such ionospheric disruptions may have been detected by the toads.
According to an ABC News (Australia) report this is far from a unique event in the animal kingdom, even amongst toads. For example, a Californian geologist cites an instance where thousands of toads were observed hopping through the streets before an earthquake in China. Yet other scientists are unconvinced, claiming that too little is known about the breeding habits of toads.
by Graham Land
Tags: animal, earthquake, earthquakes, Grant, Italy, Journal of Zoology, L'Aquila, quake, report, seismic, toads
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