Furry instincts

Forget the weatherman—these 10 animals predict storms better

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.

BELIEVE IT OR NOT

Stranger Than Fiction: 10 Unbelievable Events That Actually Happened

Image: Diana van Ormondt

They say truth is stranger than fiction, and some of these historical events are living proof of this old adage.

Brace yourself for a rollercoaster ride through history, where the strange and unexpected take center stage in the theater of reality. From absurd battles to mysterious weather phenomena, these 10 astonishing tales will leave you thinking long and hard about the complexities of human history.

Image: Sharon Co Images

Wars are typically waged between nations, but in 1932, Australia faced an unusual adversary: emus. After large numbers of these flightless birds invaded crucial farmland within Western Australia’s Wheatbelt, the government decided to intervene by sending soldiers armed with machine guns to reduce the emu population in the area. However, most attempts were ineffective at most, killing very few birds and costing thousands of dollars in supplies and ammunition.

As soon as the first shot was fired, the seemingly tame emu dispersed way beyond the range of the machine guns, and apparently switched to guerrilla tactics of sorts, avoiding all further military ambushes and frontal attacks while still feasting on the farmer’s crops. The government’s futile attempts were ridiculed and physical barrier methods to manage wildlife were preferred from then on. Sadly, they give no medals for having endured the Great Emu War.

Image: Hannah Skelly

In 1518, the town of Strasbourg, France, was gripped by a strange and inexplicable phenomenon - people suddenly began dancing uncontrollably in the streets. The dancing madness persisted for weeks, with some of the affected succumbing to exhaustion or even death. The authorities at the time did not know how to react, and some people even joined the dancers voluntarily, as they feared it was a punishment from Saint Vitus (and presumably wanted to stay on the safe side).

After many efforts to fight the strange epidemic, the dancing eventually subsided and people in the town could resume their normal lives. While theories range from mass hysteria to hallucinogenic substances and neurological disorders like Sydenham's chorea, the event remains a historical enigma that challenges our understanding of the human mind and collective behavior.

Image: Nima Sarram

In 1908, a massive explosion flattened over 80 million trees in the remote Tunguska region of Siberia. The cause? A mysterious airburst, likely caused by the explosion of a meteoroid or comet in Earth's atmosphere. It is now estimated that the event had an explosive energy of 3 to 5 megatons, equivalent to over a thousand Hiroshima bombs. The resulting shockwave broke windows, and knocked people down hundreds of miles away, reaching an equivalent of an earthquake of 5.0 on the Richter scale in some areas.

A bright glow was observed in night skies in Asia and Europe for days after the event due to high-altitude ice particles that formed as a result of the explosion. For all its magnitude, the explosion left no visible crater and minimal debris beside the devastated forest. The Tunguska Event serves as a stark reminder of the potential cosmic threats that lurk in the darkness of space.

Image: British Library

Miscommunication can often lead to chaos, but rarely on the scale witnessed in the Battle of Karánsebes in 1788. The Austrian army, at the time facing the Ottoman Empire, descended into total anarchy when two different scouting parties mistook one another for the enemy, fired on each other, and raised the alarm.

Making matters worse, the Austrian army was made of men of different nationalities who more often than not could not understand each other. All attempts to end confusion and the ensuing friendly fire on the part of the Austrian emperor himself were in vain, and after a while - deeply demoralized - he was forced to give the order of retreat. When the Ottoman army arrived two days later, they found an empty battlefield and were able to take the city of Karánsebes without any resistance.

Image: Aswathy N

In 1807, eight years before Waterloo, Napoleon Bonaparte had a humiliating defeat at the hands of a strange opponent - a horde of rabbits. During the celebrations that followed the Treaties of Tilsit - which effectively ended the war between the French and Imperial Russia - Napoleon’s chief of staff Alexandre Berthier had the idea of organizing a rabbit hunt to entertain its guests.

So far, nothing out of the ordinary for the time, but when the rabbits were simultaneously freed along the edges of a grassy field, instead of scattering as expected, all these fluffy beasts began running toward their amused hunters. But the fits of laughter didn’t last long, as the now-hunted hunters realized that there was nothing they could do to stop the relentless animals as they swarmed their positions and had no other choice than to flee. Some accounts state that Berthier had gathered around 3000 rabbits, so not even mighty Napoleon was a match for this unexpected army.

Apparently, the chief of staff's mistake was buying tame rabbits from local farmers, accustomed to being fed by humans, instead of trapping wild hares for the hunt. If we learned anything from the Great Emu War, the lesson is clear: never underestimate animals!

Image: Mitsuo Komoriya

In the aftermath of the eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia - the largest in at least 1,300 years - 1816 became known as the "Year Without a Summer." The volcanic ash floating in the atmosphere led to climate abnormalities worldwide, resulting in crop failures and widespread famine in the most affected areas.

In Europe and North America temperatures plummeted, and most crops suffered irreparable damage due to the persistent frost. In the United States, a "dry fog" was observed in the eastern regions, dimming sunlight so much that sunspots were visible to the naked eye. Also, the high level of volcanic particles present in the atmosphere caused strange optical effects in the following years, such as strong red hues during sunsets, which can be observed in many paintings produced at the time.

Image: Tiana Attride

It seems that wars against unusual adversaries are a fashionable trend in human history because the Roman Emperor Caligula declared war in the year 40 AD on no one other than the god Neptune himself, king of the raging seas.

Known for his eccentricity, Caligula allegedly ordered his legionnaires to "attack" the sea with swords and spears, after which he declared victory against the powerful god and told the men to gather seashells as trophies of war. One can only imagine that the soldiers had a fun -albeit puzzling- day.

Image: Tim Mossholder

In the late 1980s, Pepsi briefly possessed the sixth-largest navy in the world. In exchange for commercializing Pepsi products in the Soviet Union, the company received 17 submarines, a cruiser, a frigate, and a destroyer.

However, the fleet was composed of obsolete and unseaworthy vessels that were destined to be turned into scrap almost immediately. The payment was made in the only resources the USSR could gather easily at the time, and it provided a way to establish profitable international relations - and open up to the world.

Image: Garry T

The American Civil War started and concluded with a curious connection to Wilmer McLean, an American wholesale grocer from Virginia. The conflict's first major battle, the First Battle of Bull Run, took place in McLean's farm in 1861. A cannonball fell directly through the kitchen fireplace of the McLean’s house, which was being used as headquarters for the Confederate Army, destroying the dinner that was being prepared by the stationed officers - something that was noted not without humor by the Brigadier General P. G. T. Beauregard.

The McLean family moved to Appomattox, Virginia trying to escape the war, but just four years later, General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant in McLean's parlor, marking the conclusion of the Civil War. Unintentionally, McLean was a prime witness of one of America’s most defining conflicts. Later, he said of this: "The war began in my front yard and ended in my front parlor."

Image: Snowscat

Genghis Khan's vast empire and brutal military campaigns had an unexpected impact on the Earth's climate. A recent study suggests that the Mongol invasions in the 13th century led to a significant reduction in global carbon dioxide levels, as large areas of cultivated land returned to forests.

This had the unintentional effect of scrubbing as much as 700 million tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere, roughly equivalent to the global annual consumption of gasoline today. This drastic ecological shift highlights the effect that land use, and particularly deforestation can have on our planet at a large scale.