SCIENCE / MEDICINE : Instances of Abnormal Behavior Preceding Quake Activity

Anecdotal accounts of animals anticipating earthquakes are bountiful although scientific evidence remains elusive. These examples were cited in the U.S. Geological Survey’s final report on its second conference on abnormal animal behavior prior to earthquakes in 1980:

On Feb. 4, 1783, residents of Calabria, Italy, reported weird behavior in their livestock. Sheep and goats tried to break through their pens, and geese and fowl flew violently against their coops. Dogs around the city howled so unbearably they were ordered shot. The following day the city was devastated by a major quake.

On Feb. 20, 1835, two hours before a giant earthquake shook the Concepcion region of Chile, every dog fled the city and hundreds of snakes crawled out of their dens.

A number of anomalous fish activities were reported a week before the June 16, 1964, Niigata quake on the eastern coast of Japan, which registered 7.5 on the Richter scale. Catfish, normally a bottom dweller, rose to the surface in vast numbers, large schools of dolphins left the area for good, and fishermen reported an abnormally depressed fishing catch.

In the Soviet Union, villagers in far eastern Kamcoatka have long relied on bears to keep them alert to seismic dangers, according to Soviet geophysicist Vladimir Olchenskov. “When the bears get unusually active and leave their natural haunts, people in the area have learned to do likewise,” observed Olchenskov in the early 1970s. “Sometimes whole villages are deserted because bears have left the area.”

A number of reports of strange animal behavior preceded the 1906 quake that leveled San Francisco. Horses stampeded, cats bristled, dogs barked and chickens ran wildly about. Wild animals in confinement hid in corners and would not go inside their shelters.

Two days after the 6.0 earthquake that struck Oroville, Calif., in 1975, a farmer described to a newspaper reporter how his calf “shook and bawled” just before the temblor. “Just like she’s doing now,” said the farmer. Three minutes later a strong aftershock shook the field.