posted January 04, 2005 09:38 AM         

What Did the Animals Know And When Did They Know It?

By ANDREW BROWNE in Hong Kong, JOHN LARKIN in Bombay, India, and RASUL BAILAY in New Delhi
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
January 4, 2005; Page B1

Just minutes before the tsunami crashed into a southern Indian wildlife sanctuary, a lighthouse lookout reported an unusual sight: a herd of antelope stampeding from the shoreline toward the safety of a nearby hilltop.

"The man said he saw the animals on the seafront running away from the coast towards the forests," said A. D. Baruah, a wildlife warden in the state of Tamil Nadu, recounting the story of the desperate flight of the animals as told to him by the startled lookout. "Ten minutes later the waves hit. The animals had run to safety." Added Mr. Baruah: "I'm sure animals have a sense of foreboding -- a sixth sense."

In Sri Lanka, the island nation off India's southern tip, more than 30,000 people were killed. Yet at Yala National Park, just up the coast from where the destruction was most severe, all the elephants, leopards, deer and other wild animals managed to survive the mighty waves, said H.D. Ratnayake, deputy director of the country's wildlife department.

"I haven't seen any effects on the animals," he said. "They all escaped." Asked to explain the survival of the animals, he said: "They had a feeling. Maybe it was the sound waves."

Such reports add to a scientific quandary that stretches back centuries, to at least as far as ancient Rome and Greece. Can animals pick up signals that predict the arrival of seismic events? Though history is full of anecdotes about animals tuning into nature's early warnings, there is no definitive answer. And despite scientists' compelling theories on the matter, skeptics still abound. "It's pretty unequivocal that certain animals can get warnings of quakes before they happen," said Matthew van Lierop, an expert in animal behavior at the Johannesburg Zoo in South Africa. But he adds: "It's virtually impossible to prove."

In China, before an earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale hit the city of Haicheng in 1975 during the depths of winter, locals reported seeing snakes emerging from hibernation only to freeze to death on the roads. Strange animal behavior was one of a number of signals that allowed local officials to raise the alarm several days in advance to save virtually the entire population of the city, which was camped outside when the earthquake struck.

In his book "When the Snakes Awake," Helmut Tributsch says he trawled through ancient history and found evidence that before an earthquake struck Helice, Greece, in 373 B.C., snakes, weasels and worms abandoned the city. Seismic activity ahead of earthquakes releases energy in the form of charged particles, says Mr. Tributsch, a professor of physical chemistry at the Free University of Berlin. He theorizes that animals -- particularly those that live underground -- can sense big temblors coming because of various vibrations and atmospheric patterns.

Wang Xiaoqing, a researcher with the China Earthquake Administration, says that earthquakes affect the flow of underground water, the earth's magnetic field, temperature and sound waves. "Animals are more sensitive than human beings, so they feel the changes before humans," he says.

Tsunamis, on the other hand, "may induce a different pattern of signals," says Mr. Tributsch, who believes that animals may detect the sound waves they generate. As tsunamis race across the ocean, he says, they pound the rock formations beneath the sea floor. Because sound travels faster through rock than water, animals have time to flee, Mr. Tributsch says.

Even in China, where earthquake officials still set great store by animal behavior following the Haicheng earthquake, the evidence about beastly warnings is mixed. A year after the Haicheng quake, another earthquake 400 times more powerful than the atomic bomb that exploded over Hiroshima swallowed up the city of Tangshan and 250,000 lives. While scientists said they found evidence of animal warnings, the observations were in hindsight, calling into question their veracity.

This dog survived in India's ravaged Tamil Nadu.

Yet according to a United Nations report, in a county adjacent to Tangshan, residents were well prepared for the disaster, partly because they had noticed nocturnal animals such as weasels and rats scampering around in broad daylight.

Evidence of animal survival instincts around the Indian Ocean is also by no means clear-cut. In Thailand, on the devastated island of Phuket, hundreds of street-savvy stray dogs were caught unaware by the killer waves. Many that did survive were chased inland by Thais, who value animal life as much as their own.

"Some ran away and are starting to trickle back, but a lot of them got killed," said Margot Homburg Park, a Phuket resident who volunteers at the Soi Dog Foundation, which feeds and neuters "soi," or street, dogs. "We have seen dog footprints in second and third stories of buildings, so some did get a sense that they have to get up higher. But I have nine dogs at my house, which is 500 meters from the beach, and I didn't notice any difference in their demeanor at all. My husband felt the earthquake at 8 a.m., but there was no reaction from the dogs."

At Malaysia's Taiping Zoo, some 70 kilometers south of the city of Penang, journalist Ian McIntyre said he noticed something strange the morning of the earthquake, before the tsunami hit. The animals, he said, suddenly began behaving in a peculiar manner, with some, including hippopotamuses, running to their shelters and refusing to come out. He joked to a cousin that on the day after Christmas, even the animals were taking the day off.

Meanwhile in India, Mr. Baruah said that out of 2,000 beasts at the wildlife sanctuary, only one -- a wild boar -- had been found dead as a result of the tsunami.

"The animals are safe," said Mr. Baruah, during an inspection trip around the sanctuary yesterday evening. "We have not seen any dead black bucks at all. I am inside the sanctuary now and I can see all the black bucks and they all look fine."

Saraswathi Haksan, a director at the Madras office of Blue Cross, one of India's biggest animal welfare organizations, said there were no reports of animal carcasses in the Madras area. She didn't know whether that was the result of a special sense, or simply that their losses weren't reported.

"It's really surprising. Even on the news bulletins there's been nothing reported," she said. "Perhaps only God knows."

--Cris Prystay in Singapore, Cui Rong in Beijing and Celine Fernandez in Kuala Lumpur contributed to this article.

Write to Andrew Browne at andrew.browne@wsj.com4 and John Larkin at john.larkin@wsj.com5 and Rasul Bailay at rasul.bailay@wsj.com6.

posted January 04, 2005 09:05 PM         

How are you doing? Thank you for this great article!!! It is so interesting and true!!! Of course animal's senses are higher evolved, and they use them efficiently
The poor dogs that lost their lives Thank the Universe for all the wildlife

posted January 05, 2005 02:37 PM         

I am doing very well. How are the both of you doing? Nephthys, did you find a restaurant for your party yet?

The animals are amazingly sensitive beauties. Their flight from the Tsunami has gotten me spiraling for the past couple of days.

posted January 06, 2005 10:05 PM         

No, I haven't found a place yet for my party. I still don't know what to do. I don't know if I want to go out and do the party thing at night anymore, or have a party at home. I don't have many friends, so I don't know if having a party would even work. If I had a party at home, it would be neat to have an afternoon party in the backyard. Hmmm I dunno. What do people normally do for 40th birthdays????????

Tink, Great question!!! Thank you for blessing us with your presence here! I really miss seeing you around here; I love your humour and your personality!!!

posted January 06, 2005 10:38 PM         

The dog thingy has always intrigued me. The whole man's best friend stuff. I know other animals have been domesticated(what an ugly word!)to varying degrees but dogs in particular seem to have agreed to share the doom of men, so to speak. As if some pact was forged and sealed so long ago that neither party remembers why - just that the pact is there and must be honored.
I wonder why.

posted January 07, 2005 12:22 PM         

I'm thinking may be some information about the bond between humans and dogs could be in Native American religions. It's one of the sources I can think of at the moment that still survives thousands of years later and contains good remnants of old wisdom.

Yes, I agree with you on many levels about the deep bond. Of particular note is how much they care for us and are so willing to work hard in roles human beings normally perform. A sort of interchange, I suppose. What do you think?

Hi Randall

Hi Nephthys

I still remember the things you were looking for at the time. Do you like Asian food? Have you heard of Butterfly? One of my dates mentioned this restaurant because he likes the food, ambiance and music. Here is the website:

http://www.butterflysf.com/

Also, I had a roommate who used to bartend at Glass Kat:

http://www.glaskat.com/

One more . . . Bistro Yoffi I went here once and there was a live band and dancing. I liked it a lot, as it wasn't a huge restaurant and the crowd was pretty nice. There is a schedule of jazz performances on their site:

http://www.bistroyoffi.com/

Love,

Aphrodite

posted January 07, 2005 12:33 PM         

Native American is a good idea. Possibly also Australian aborigine?

posted January 07, 2005 01:37 PM         

Thank you for the ideas and links. I still don't know what to do.

Tink,