Rodent
IN PHOTO: A rescued chinchilla looks out from his new home at the San Diego Humane Society in Oceanside, California after Hollywood mogul and co-creator of The Simpsons, Sam Simon, financed the purchase of a chinchilla farm in order to rescue over 400 chinchillas and close the Vista, California business August 19, 2014. In what all parties described as a "win-win" deal, 90-year-old owner Lurlie Adams was able to offload the farm she did not want any more to Simon for $50,000. And the 425 chinchillas were moved to much larger cages while awaiting adoption. Picture taken August 19, 2014. Reuters/Mike Blake

The massive quake that recently hit Nepal is yet another proof that nature can be unpredictable. Science has identified areas that are vulnerable to quake episodes but can never tell when this event would likely occur.

A Bloombergview report states that a research team has analysed data from an earthquake in Peru, and the study concluded that wild animals, particularly rodents, had a way of predicting that the ground is about to shake violently. In 2011, a 7.0-magnitude quake hit Contamana, Peru, and animal behaviour specialist Rachel Grant studied images captured by motion-triggered cameras before and after the event.

Bloombergview reports that days before that 2011 Peruvian earthquake hit, motion-triggered cameras provided images that wildlife inhabiting the Yanachaga-Chemillen national park had fled the area and returned when the tremors are over. Despite the study, researchers still find conclusions indefinite.

The initial findings of the study were intriguing though. Researchers hope to be able to develop an early warning system for a quake based on data provided by animals. This system should be able to help governments initiate evacuation plans.

Grant was not an expert in seismology, so she sought help from two physicists, one from NASA and one from Mackenzie University in Brazil. They found that the behaviour exhibited by rodents on camera coincided with the changes recorded in the Earth’s crust.

Theories of quake prediction through animal behaviour are old news. However, though there could be a possibility for animals to predict an impending quake, more research is required because there is difficulty in finding statistically significant connection between odd animal behaviour and forthcoming disasters, reports Yijun Yu in Phys Org.

Questions on whether or not animals can predict quakes are still circulating, but as the U.S. Geological Survey always says, scientists and seismologists agree that predicting earthquakes are impossible. “… if some animals or people can tell when an earthquake is coming, we do not yet understand how it works.”

To report problems or leave feedback on this article, email: wendylemeric@gmail.com.

RELATED STORIES