Wild Animals and the Tsunami
Nice to see Dr.
Nicholas Dodman back in
the news. Nick practices at Tufts
University School of Veterinary Medicine in Grafton, Massachusetts,
and he's one of the nation's leading veterinary behaviorists. He's
quoted here in this article -- "Animals
may have sensed danger before waves struck" -- commenting on the
phenomenon of how so many the wild animals in Southeast Asia avoided
the tsunami, whereas the 150,000 people unfortunately did not.
From the article:
Great stuff. I worked at Tufts for three years doing PR, and I worked closely with Nick on hundreds of animal- and science-related stories. He's one of the best. A good friend, too.
From the article:
The
question is could the animals possibly have detected the danger?
"First of all, they (animals) have powers of detection humans don't have," said Dodman. "For example, it's a well-known scientific fact that elephants can detect and communicate in infrasound -- a low frequency we wouldn't hear. They could pick up this strange rumbling in the distance."
Could it be the huge wave or earthquake would have caused some trembling of the ground the elephants would have perceived as harmful?
"Even tigers will run away from danger. They don't have to understand what it comprises," said Dodman. "They just know something cataclysmic is making huge unusual vibrations coming from that direction. Nature tells them to get out of the way."
Different animals communicate in different ways.
"Sometimes they use the same sensory modality we use," said Dodman. "For the dogs and wolves, they are able to hear ultrasound, like the dog whistle that we can't hear. Rabbits, like 'Thumper,' communicate by beating on the ground. Pigeons detect electromagnetic waves and some dogs appear to detect subtle changes in the air before a storm. Cattle are well known for stampeding in a big storm. They are running in front of the storm ... and fish communicate using electricity. They sort of see in an electric world."
Wildlife appears to be peculiarly attuned to the world around them compared to humans.
"They perceive more changes," said Dodman. "Most of them are on red alert, attuned to physical dangers."
"First of all, they (animals) have powers of detection humans don't have," said Dodman. "For example, it's a well-known scientific fact that elephants can detect and communicate in infrasound -- a low frequency we wouldn't hear. They could pick up this strange rumbling in the distance."
Could it be the huge wave or earthquake would have caused some trembling of the ground the elephants would have perceived as harmful?
"Even tigers will run away from danger. They don't have to understand what it comprises," said Dodman. "They just know something cataclysmic is making huge unusual vibrations coming from that direction. Nature tells them to get out of the way."
Different animals communicate in different ways.
"Sometimes they use the same sensory modality we use," said Dodman. "For the dogs and wolves, they are able to hear ultrasound, like the dog whistle that we can't hear. Rabbits, like 'Thumper,' communicate by beating on the ground. Pigeons detect electromagnetic waves and some dogs appear to detect subtle changes in the air before a storm. Cattle are well known for stampeding in a big storm. They are running in front of the storm ... and fish communicate using electricity. They sort of see in an electric world."
Wildlife appears to be peculiarly attuned to the world around them compared to humans.
"They perceive more changes," said Dodman. "Most of them are on red alert, attuned to physical dangers."
Great stuff. I worked at Tufts for three years doing PR, and I worked closely with Nick on hundreds of animal- and science-related stories. He's one of the best. A good friend, too.
Posted by 192.18.42.10 on January 08, 2005 at 07:26 AM JST #
Posted by Jim on January 08, 2005 at 07:22 PM JST #