Tsunami Adds to Belief in Animals' 'Sixth Sense'

[emad]

By Ed Stoddard
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Wild animals seem to have escaped the Indian Ocean tsunami, adding weight to notions they possess a "sixth sense" for disasters, experts said Thursday.

Sri Lankan wildlife officials have said the giant waves that killed over 24,000 people along the Indian Ocean island's coast seemingly missed wild beasts, with no dead animals found.

"No elephants are dead, not even a dead hare or rabbit. I think animals can sense disaster. They have a sixth sense. They know when things are happening," H.D. Ratnayake, deputy director of Sri Lanka's Wildlife Department, said Wednesday.

The waves washed floodwaters up to 2 miles inland at Yala National Park in the ravaged southeast, Sri Lanka's biggest wildlife reserve and home to hundreds of wild elephants and several leopards. "There has been a lot of anecdotal evidence about dogs barking or birds migrating before volcanic eruptions or earthquakes. But it has not been proven," said Matthew van Lierop, an animal behavior specialist at Johannesburg Zoo.

http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=V1LCIA0PHI154CRBAELCFFA?type=scienceNews&storyID=7207207

I WAS once in Joshua Tree, Ca, when the pet parakeets next door started having a screaming match with the gerbils.....Ten minutes later a quake struck.....

[jody]

1. Mother Nature still talks to most animals but she gave up with humans. n/t

[flamingpie2500]

2. Name one animal that CAN'T outrun a human.

[gnofg]

3. Rush Limbaugh

[NMDemDist2]

7. snarf!!

eom

[madrchsod]

4. i`ve known that for years

i`ve had a dog who knew a quake was going to hit and i had a dog who thru her actions, i could predit the severity of a thunderstorm. animals are way more atuned to the earth than humans.

[phantom power]

5. They hear better than we do.

Or, at least they can hear in wavelengths that we can't.

The only candidate for a "6th sense" that I've ever seen is a sense of magnetic fields. That appears to be a genuine additional sense.

[Az]

6. Critters are unhindered by posessions

As well as numerous other reasons they can easily survive what kills us enmass.

Not to mention that when the enviroment changes they get out of town fast. We stick around and wonder how its going to affect our realestate values.

Evolution does not favor an animal that sits on the beach and waits for a wave to drown it. If they sense a change in pressure or some other measure (real not sixth sense) then they move.... fast.

You may have noticed that critters have not yet figured out how to avoid oil spills. They are not a naturally occurring event that time provides chances to adapt to.

[Eurobabe]

8. Jack Hanna was talking about this on MSNBC yesterday

about psi and magnetic fields that animals pick up on that we don't. They obviously have their proverbial ears to the ground. Aren't animals fascinatin??

[depakid]

9. Animals have excellent hearing and are very alert

Most 4 leggeds could probably hear the wave approaching or they observed other animals taking off and things going on that didn't jive- so they ran for it! Like any sensible creature would!