Furry instincts

When crickets stop chirping, it’s time to run: 10 animal early warnings

Image: Zoltan Fekeshazy

Long before radar and satellites, animals have relied on their sensory superpowers to detect natural disasters. From elephants hearing through the ground to ants reacting to tremors and storms in advance, many creatures exhibit behaviors that hint at impending doom—often hours or even days before it hits. Here's a list of 10 real ways animals are believed to detect and respond to natural disasters.

Image: paweldotio

Elephants can detect low-frequency seismic vibrations through their feet, known as infrasound. These sounds travel great distances through the ground, giving elephants an early warning system for earthquakes.

Field studies in Sri Lanka and Thailand have recorded elephants moving to higher ground hours before tsunamis and quakes.

Image: Chewy

Dogs often display signs of anxiety—pacing, whining, hiding—before storms or earthquakes. In some cases, they have even alerted owners to seizures or cardiac events.

Their acute sense of smell and hearing allows them to detect subtle changes in barometric pressure and even the scent of ozone that precedes a thunderstorm. In quake-prone areas, dogs have been reported barking frantically seconds before tremors strike.

Image: Alexandre Boucey

Sharks can detect shifts in barometric pressure, allowing them to dive deeper before hurricanes strike.

In 2001, tagged bonnethead sharks in Florida were observed diving rapidly in response to Hurricane Gabrielle’s approach. Their pressure-sensitive lateral lines function like an early-warning system for dangerous storms.

Image: Prince Patel

Ants have been observed to alter their foraging behavior and nest structure before earthquakes. Scientists believe they react to changes in soil gases and vibrations.

In addition to earthquakes, ants can also detect approaching storms. Changes in barometric pressure and humidity can cause ants to become more active or retreat deeper into their nests.

Image: Mohamed Fsili

As one would expect, birds are highly responsive to changes in air pressure. Many species change flight paths or stop migrating if a storm is coming.

In 2014, golden-winged warblers abruptly left Tennessee days before a deadly tornado outbreak, only returning after the threat passed. GPS trackers on some of the birds confirmed the sudden 900-mile round-trip escape.

Image: Geoff Brooks

Fish have been recorded jumping out of the water just before earthquakes, possibly reacting to pressure or specific chemical changes.

In Japan, koi and eels exhibited panic-like thrashing and leaping before the 2011 Tōhoku quake. Researchers suggest their specialized senses can detect subtle pressure waves or dissolved gas anomalies in water.

Image: Michelle Gordon

Rats often leave urban areas en masse before major flooding events. Sewer vibrations or scent cues may warn them of the incoming danger.

In India and Bangladesh, mass rat migration has historically preceded flash floods. Their survival relies on quickly identifying danger zones, and some believe their whiskers help detect water movement and even vibrations deep underground.

Image: Peter Fogden

Dolphins may be able to detect algal blooms (red tides) from miles away and often swim clear of affected areas.

Scientists believe their acute echolocation could help them sense chemical changes or detect developing dead zones. In Florida, dolphins have been observed avoiding regions impacted by Karenia brevis blooms long before any visible changes appear in the water.

Image: Erzsébet Vehofsics

Frogs may alter their calls ahead of seismic activity, responding to low-frequency vibrations.

Researchers in Japan recorded changes in frog croaking patterns in the days before the 2011 quake. The frogs emitted less frequent and lower-pitched calls, suggesting discomfort from environmental shifts.

Image: William Warby

Crickets often go silent ahead of disasters. This curious behavior may be linked to their sensitivity to ground vibrations and air pressure changes.

Studies in Indonesia noted decreased cricket chirping before tsunamis. The silence has been proposed as a natural indicator, potentially tied to shifts in humidity or ground tension.

Animal myth-busters

Blind bats and raging bulls: Debunking 10 common myths about wild animals

Image: Carlos Torres

Wild animals have long captivated our imaginations (and often even fuel our nightmares), but our understanding of them is frequently clouded by myths and misconceptions. Despite the abundance of information available today, several myths about wild animal behavior persist, often stemming from misunderstandings, cultural beliefs, or sensationalized media. From suicidal lemmings to head-burrowing ostriches, it’s time to separate fact from fiction to honor our wild friends. Here are 10 common myths about wild animals that need urgent debunking.

Image: Nils Bouillard

Contrary to popular belief, bats aren't blind at all! They can see quite well, though their vision varies by species. In fact, some bats have excellent night vision, which they use in combination with echolocation to navigate in what we might consider pitch-black conditions.

Although the saying "blind as a bat" is inaccurate, these nocturnal creatures do rely heavily on sound waves through their sophisticated auditory system. Their eyesight, however, assists them in locating food and avoiding obstacles, making them formidable hunters of the night.

Image: Gerald Schömbs

While sharks have an exceptional sense of smell, the idea that they can detect a drop of blood from miles away is an exaggeration. Although they are highly efficient predators, they are not infallible bloodhounds. Sharks can actually sense blood at concentrations as low as one part per million, but this still requires them to be relatively close to the source.

Their olfactory prowess is influenced by water currents, turbulence, and other environmental factors that can affect how far and accurately they can detect scents. Additionally, while their sense of smell is incredibly keen, it is just one of several senses sharks use to hunt, along with their acute hearing and electroreception capabilities.

Image: Wolfgang Hasselmann

Ostriches don't bury their heads in the sand to avoid danger. Curiously, this myth seems to have originated in ancient Rome (talk about a pervasive misconception!), and is often used as a metaphor for someone avoiding their problems.

The myth likely stems from their behavior of lowering their heads to the ground to eat or to check on their eggs, which can give the appearance of burying their heads. When actually threatened, ostriches either run at high speeds—up to 45 miles per hour—or lie flat on the ground to blend into their surroundings and avoid detection.

Image: Rachel Hisko

If you ever thought this idea sounded a bit fishy, you were in the right. Although this myth has been debunked several times over, it still somehow persists, likely due to the influence of exaggerated media.

In reality, research has shown that fish have amazing learning abilities—sometimes even surpassing those of primates! They can be trained to recognize colors, shapes, and even perform complex tricks, retaining information for months or years on end. And this makes a lot of sense because, how else could they survive in the often treacherous and intricate world of aquatic environments?

Image: Steven Su

Sorry to break it to you, but camels don't actually store water in their humps. In reality, their iconic humps are reservoirs of fatty tissue, which camels use as an energy source when food is scarce. They do, however, store water in their bloodstream, allowing them to go long periods without drinking.

The misconception arises from camels’ remarkable ability to survive in arid environments, but it’s their efficient water management, not hump storage, that allows them to endure the harsh desert conditions.

Image: Giovanni Calia

Bulls not only do not hate the color red, but they are also actually colorblind to it! The myth that bulls charge at the color red likely stems from traditional bullfighting. In reality, it is the matador’s movements, not the color of the cape, that provoke the bull to attack.

Bulls are reactive to motion rather than color. Their vision is similar to that of a person with red-green color blindness, meaning they cannot distinguish red from green. So, next time you're near a bull, don’t worry about the color of your shirt—just avoid sudden movements or attempts to scare the animal.

Image: 85GB photo

Birds generally don't abandon their chicks if touched by humans. In fact, most birds have a limited sense of smell, so they won't detect human scent on their offspring. That being said, it’s often best to leave baby birds alone. While birds won’t abandon their young solely due to human touch, they might do so in response to disturbance.

If they feel threatened, they may attempt to relocate their offspring to a new nesting site. Some more risk-averse species, such as hawks, might actually abandon their nest if they feel sufficiently threatened. However, in most cases, birds will not readily abandon their young after a minor disturbance.

Image: Sofia Rotaru

Piranhas have a fearsome reputation, but they aren't the man-eating monsters depicted in movies. While they do have sharp teeth and a powerful bite, piranhas are generally scavengers and rarely attack humans. Curiously, part of the blame for their exaggerated reputation lies with President Theodore Roosevelt, who, after a trip to the Amazon, described them as the "most ferocious fish in the world."

In reality, piranhas are far from being exclusive carnivores. Most species have a diet primarily consisting of plants and small insects. Their infamous feeding frenzies and occasional attacks on humans are usually triggered by extreme conditions and hunger, not an inherent appetite for flesh.

Image: Walter Frehner

Lemmings are small rodents usually found in Arctic biomes, infamous for their alleged suicidal tendencies—and penchant for tall cliffs, apparently. However, the idea that lemmings commit mass suicide by leaping off cliffs is a myth, in part popularized by the 1958 Disney documentary White Wilderness.

Like many rodents, lemmings experience periodic population booms and migrate in large numbers. These unexplained fluctuations in their populations likely contributed to the myth of mass suicide, which has since become a metaphor for mindless group behavior.

Image: Daniele Levis Pelusi

While bears do enter a state of deep sleep during winter, they don’t hibernate in the traditional sense. True hibernators, like ground squirrels, lower their body temperature drastically, but bears only reduce theirs slightly and can wake up easily.

This semi-hibernation, called torpor, allows bears to conserve energy while still being alert to danger. However, during this state bears can go without eating, drinking, urinating, or defecating for months, relying solely on their fat reserves to survive the winter.