Toads' Earthquake Exodus

[steven johnson]

There may be hope for scientists to make earthquake predictions if toads can do it.

ScienceDaily (Apr. 1, 2010) — Common toads (Bufo bufo) can detect impending seismic activity and alter their behaviour from breeding to evacuation mode, suggests a new study in the Zoological Society of London's (ZSL) Journal of Zoology.

Researchers from The Open University reported that 96 per cent of male toads in a population abandoned their breeding site five days before the earthquake that struck L'Aquila in Italy in 2009. The breeding site was located 74 km from the earthquake's epicentre.

This shift in the toads' behaviour coincided with disruptions in the ionosphere, the uppermost electromagnetic layer of the earth's atmosphere, which were detected using very low frequency (VLF) radio sounding.

The release of radon gas, or gravity waves prior to an earthquake have both been attributed to changes in atmospheric electric fields and currents. In this case the cause of the ionosphere disruptions was not determined.

Toads' Earthquake Exodus

[JDPriestly]

1. I have seen strange behavior by opossums before an earthquake.

I wonder whether opossums are also able to sense signs of earthquake activity.