The National Zoo in Washington DC issued a press release on how the animals reacted to yesterday’s earthquake.
Great Apes
The earthquake hit the Great Ape House and Think Tank Exhibit during afternoon feeding time.
About five to ten seconds before the quake, many of the apes, including Kyle (an orangutan) and Kojo (a Western lowland gorilla), abandoned their food and climbed to the top of the tree-like structure in the exhibit.
About three seconds before the quake, Mandara (a gorilla) let out a shriek and collected her baby, Kibibi, and moved to the top of the tree structure as well.
Iris (an orangutan) began “belch vocalizing”—an unhappy/upset noise normally reserved for extreme irritation—before the quake and continued this vocalization following the quake.
Small Mammals
The red ruffed lemurs sounded an alarm call about 15 minutes before the quake and then again just after it occurred.
The howler monkeys sounded an alarm call just after the earthquake.
The black-and-rufous giant elephant shrew hid in his habitat and refused to come out for afternoon feeding.
Reptile Discovery Center
All the snakes began writhing during the quake (copperheads, cotton mouth, false water cobra, etc.). Normally, they remain inactive during the day.
Murphy, the Zoo’s Komodo dragon, sought shelter inside.
Invertebrates
One of the volunteers at the Invertebrate Exhibit was feeding the cuttlefish and it was not responsive. The water is normally very calm in the tank, but the earthquake caused the tank to shake and created waves, which distracted the cuttlefish during feeding.
Beavers
Keepers were feeding the beavers and hooded mergansers (a species of duck) when the earthquake hit. The ducks immediately jumped into the pool. The beavers stopped eating, stood on their hind legs and looked around, then got into the water, too. They all stayed in the water. Within an hour, some of the beavers returned to land to continue eating.
Great Cats
The lion pride was outside. They all stood still and faced the building, which rattled during the quake. All settled down within minutes.
Damai (a female Sumatran tiger) jumped at the start of the earthquake in a startled fashion. Her behavior returned to normal after the quake.
Bird House
The Zoo has a flock of 64 flamingos. Just before the quake, the birds rushed about and grouped themselves together. They remained huddled during the quake.
Front Royal
During the quake all Eld’s deer and tufted deer immediately ran out of the barns and appeared agitated.
The Prezwalski’s horses and scimitar-horned oryx hardly noticed although those that were inside did amble outside eventually.
Immediately after the quake the female Eld’s deer herd began alarm calling (a high staccato barking sound) until they were called by their keeper and subsequently all congregated in the corner of the pasture nearest the keeper for a short time.Giant Pandas
According to keepers, the giant pandas did not appear to respond to the earthquake.
I want a red ruffed lemur for my own personal warning system. I wonder how much they eat.
Animals have a special sense for these things that we just can’t detect. It is really interesting but also very sad. Years ago, my sister had a dog that went crazy just before an earthquake and somehow got out of the yard (when she had never done this before) and ran down the street, as if trying to escape from something terrible. She was hit by a car and brought to the Animal Hospital. She died a couple days (and a few thousand dollars) later. Sad.
From the article some animals reacted pre-quake and some didn’t. I too have heard of dogs having premonitions.
I wonder if having an extended auditory range has anything to do with it.
One thing that we learned (sort of by accident) from the recent Japan earthquake is that the earth will emit an enormous amount of (I think it’s Radon) gas from the fault where an earthquake is about to happen well before it occurs. If we found ways of detecting this, we could probably give a fair warning. Maybe some animals can smell or in some way detect this emission. Who knows.
I think so. I was in a small earthquake in Mexico. Right before, a minute maybe before, all the dogs began wailing in unison. I was told they probably heard the low sound waves that we humans don’t.
Did any of the republicans twirl around in circles in the minutes before the quake, or perhaps have a rare moment of lucidity? I always love that cage at the zoo.
No, but John Boehner started bellowing when he spilled a drop of scotch, Michele Bachmann took it as a sign from God that she should spend more time in Iowa, and Ann Coulter was heard screeching something about it being caused by the President’s frequent socialist golf games.
They have bars on those cages for a reason. Well, except for the habitat exhibits for the Tea Partiers, but the zookeepers have found that with Fox News on, their charges rarely leave the double-wide that’s been set up for them.
“The black-and-rufous giant elephant shrew hid in his habitat and refused to come out for afternoon feeding.”
They made that up!
The National Zoo is clearly just screwing with us now.
Yep. My dog started barking like there was an intruder about half a minute before we felt anything.
The lemur’s second call was probably the “all clear”. definitely the pet to have.
Too rare & beautiful to keep captive. Let’s stick with dogs!