Can animals predict natural disasters?

THERE WAS THE TIME HUNDREDS OF snakes came out of hibernation early before a devastating 7.3 magnitude earthquake in the Chinese city of Haicheng in 1975.

- Jo Caird

Then there were the golden-winged warblers that flew 700km from their breeding grounds in Tennessee, USA, ahead of a swarm of tornadoes in 2014, despite having just arrived from their 5,000km migration. Examples abound of animals appearing to predict natural disasters, with anecdotes dating back as far as Ancient Greece, when the historian Thucydides wrote of rats, weasels, snakes and dogs deserting the city of Helice before an earthquake in 373 BC. With natural disasters hitting us by surprise, it's appealing to entertain the notion of animals as crystal-ball gazers. Even today, while meteorological forecasting can give advance notice of weather-related events like hurricanes and flooding, the science of seismology is not yet able to accurately predict earthquakes. Tsunamis, on the other hand, which follow seismic activity in our oceans, can often be predicted - yet remote, vulnerable communities often lack the infrastructure required for effective warning systems.