What Did the Animals Know And When Did They Know It?
Just minutes before the tsunami crashed into a southern Indian wildlife sanctuary, a lighthouse lookout reported an unusual sight: a herd of antelope stampeding from the shoreline toward the safety of a nearby hilltop.
"The man said he saw the animals on the seafront running away from the coast towards the forests," said A. D. Baruah, a wildlife warden in the state of Tamil Nadu, recounting the story of the desperate flight of the animals as told to him by the startled lookout. "Ten minutes later the waves hit. The animals had run to safety." Added Mr. Baruah: "I'm sure animals have a sense of foreboding -- a sixth sense."
WAVE OF DESTRUCTION
See complete coverage of the earthquake and tsunami in South Asia.
GIVING TO TSUNAMI VICTIMS
Terri Cullen on ways individuals can contribute to the relief effort.
In Sri Lanka, the island nation off India's southern tip, more than 30,000 people were killed. Yet at Yala National Park, just up the coast from where the destruction was most severe, all the elephants, leopards, deer and other wild animals managed to survive the mighty waves, said H.D. Ratnayake, deputy director of the country's wildlife department.
"I haven't seen any effects on the animals," he said. "They all escaped." Asked to explain the survival of the animals, he said: "They had a feeling. Maybe it was the sound waves."
Such reports add to a scientific quandary that stretches back centuries, to at least as far as ancient Rome and Greece. Can animals pick up signals that predict the arrival of seismic events? Though history is full of anecdotes about animals tuning into nature's early warnings, there is no definitive answer. And despite scientists' compelling theories on the matter, skeptics still abound. "It's pretty unequivocal that certain animals can get warnings of quakes before they happen," said Matthew van Lierop, an expert in animal behavior at the Johannesburg Zoo in South Africa. But he adds: "It's virtually impossible to prove."
In China, before an earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale hit the city of Haicheng in 1975 during the depths of winter, locals reported seeing snakes emerging from hibernation only to freeze to death on the roads. Strange animal behavior was one of a number of signals that allowed local officials to raise the alarm several days in advance to save virtually the entire population of the city, which was camped outside when the earthquake struck.
In his book "When the Snakes Awake," Helmut Tributsch says he trawled through ancient history and found evidence that before an earthquake struck Helice, Greece, in 373 B.C., snakes, weasels and worms abandoned the city. Seismic activity ahead of earthquakes releases energy in the form of charged particles, says Mr. Tributsch, a professor of physical chemistry at the Free University of Berlin. He theorizes that animals -- particularly those that live underground -- can sense big temblors coming because of various vibrations and atmospheric patterns.
Wang Xiaoqing, a researcher with the China Earthquake Administration, says that earthquakes affect the flow of underground water, the earth's magnetic field, temperature and sound waves. "Animals are more sensitive than human beings, so they feel the changes before humans," he says.
Tsunamis, on the other hand, "may induce a different pattern of signals," says Mr. Tributsch, who believes that animals may detect the sound waves they generate. As tsunamis race across the ocean, he says, they pound the rock formations beneath the sea floor. Because sound travels faster through rock than water, animals have time to flee, Mr. Tributsch says.
Even in China, where earthquake officials still set great store by animal behavior following the Haicheng earthquake, the evidence about beastly warnings is mixed. A year after the Haicheng quake, another earthquake 400 times more powerful than the atomic bomb that exploded over Hiroshima swallowed up the city of Tangshan and 250,000 lives. While scientists said they found evidence of animal warnings, the observations were in hindsight, calling into question their veracity.
This dog survived in India's ravaged Tamil Nadu.
Yet according to a United Nations report, in a county adjacent to Tangshan, residents were well prepared for the disaster, partly because they had noticed nocturnal animals such as weasels and rats scampering around in broad daylight.
Evidence of animal survival instincts around the Indian Ocean is also by no means clear-cut. In Thailand, on the devastated island of Phuket, hundreds of street-savvy stray dogs were caught unaware by the killer waves. Many that did survive were chased inland by Thais, who value animal life as much as their own.
"Some ran away and are starting to trickle back, but a lot of them got killed," said Margot Homburg Park, a Phuket resident who volunteers at the Soi Dog Foundation, which feeds and neuters "soi," or street, dogs. "We have seen dog footprints in second and third stories of buildings, so some did get a sense that they have to get up higher. But I have nine dogs at my house, which is 500 meters from the beach, and I didn't notice any difference in their demeanor at all. My husband felt the earthquake at 8 a.m., but there was no reaction from the dogs."
At Malaysia's Taiping Zoo, some 70 kilometers south of the city of Penang, journalist Ian McIntyre said he noticed something strange the morning of the earthquake, before the tsunami hit. The animals, he said, suddenly began behaving in a peculiar manner, with some, including hippopotamuses, running to their shelters and refusing to come out. He joked to a cousin that on the day after Christmas, even the animals were taking the day off.
Meanwhile in India, Mr. Baruah said that out of 2,000 beasts at the wildlife sanctuary, only one -- a wild boar -- had been found dead as a result of the tsunami.
"The animals are safe," said Mr. Baruah, during an inspection trip around the sanctuary yesterday evening. "We have not seen any dead black bucks at all. I am inside the sanctuary now and I can see all the black bucks and they all look fine."
Saraswathi Haksan, a director at the Madras office of Blue Cross, one of India's biggest animal welfare organizations, said there were no reports of animal carcasses in the Madras area. She didn't know whether that was the result of a special sense, or simply that their losses weren't reported.
"It's really surprising. Even on the news bulletins there's been nothing reported," she said. "Perhaps only God knows."
动物逃过海啸 科学界争论再起
在海啸冲进印度野生动物保护区10分钟前，一个灯塔的看管员报告了一个异常现象：一群羚羊从岸边惊慌逃向附近一坐山丘的山顶。
印度南部Tamil Nadu省的野生动物监视员巴鲁(A. D. Baruah)说，“我肯定动物有未卜先知的第六感。”他描述著惊魂未定的灯塔看管员告诉他的动物惊慌逃亡的情形。
巴鲁称，“那个人说，他看见海边的动物逃向森林。10分钟后巨浪开始袭击。动物早已经逃到安全地带。”
印度羚羊（黑羚羊）狂奔发出的雷鸣般声响令科学界长期争吵不休的一个话题变得更加喧嚣，这个话题至少可以追溯至几个世纪以前的古罗马和希腊。动物能够接收到预示地震发生的信号吗？
这个问题在上周海啸大灾难之后尤让人感觉辛酸，因为与发生前通常无任何警示迹象的地震不同，人们通过简单的波浪感测器，能够在地震引发的海啸袭击内陆以前检测到它的存在。但是印度洋没有这种感测器，因此大难来临前的第一个信号可能来自于野生动物。
在印度南部的岛国斯里兰卡，30,196人葬身于此次海啸。但是就在距离灾情最严重的海岸不远的Yala国家公园，所有的大象、豹子、鹿和其它野生动物成功的逃脱了巨浪的侵袭，该国野生动物部门的副部长拉特纳亚科(H.D. Ratnayake)如是说。
他说，“我没有看到动物受到任何影响。它们全都躲过了灾难。”当被问及原因时，他说，“它们具有一种预感。可能是声波。”
不知道是否有人看见Yala公园的动物在灾难来临前逃窜。但是在印度灾情最重的纳格伯蒂讷姆（Nagapattinam)地区的Point Calimere野生动物和鸟类保护区，则有一位目击证人－－灯塔看管员。巴鲁称，这可能是人类第一次亲眼目睹海啸来临前动物逃向安全地带。这一事件也得到了省政府首席森林监护官卡拉(J. C. Kala)的证实。他说，“在巨浪抵达这一地区以前，大约有500只黑羚羊爬上了附近一座山丘的山顶。”
实际上，有大量的趣闻轶事显示动物具有一种敏锐的预警系统。1975年深冬，在中国海城里氏7.3级的地震发生前，当地人表示他们看见蛇从冬眠□息地爬出冻死在路上。包括动物奇怪行为在内的诸多信号让当地官员及时提高警惕，拯救了整座城市的居民，当地震来临时，人们都呆住在帐篷里面。
赫尔默特?崔伯许(Helmut Tributsch)在他的著作《当蛇苏醒时》中写道，他研究了古代历史，发现有迹象表明，在公元前373年希腊Helice大地震之前，蛇、鼬鼠、昆虫逃离了这座城市。Free University of Berlin的物理化学教授崔伯许说，地震前的地壳活动以带电粒子的形式释放出能量，动物，尤其是生活在地面下的动物能够感觉到大震动的来临。
崔伯许称，海啸“可能会产生一种不同的信号模式。”崔伯许推测，动物也许能察觉信号产生的声波。他说，当海啸穿越印度洋时，波浪撞击海床下面的岩石地层。由于声音通过岩石传播的速度快于水，因此动物有时间逃走。
科学界有许多人对这一观点持怀疑态度。南非Johannesburg动物园的动物行为专家马休?凡?列若普(Matthew van Lierop)说，“某些动物能够在地震发生前获得警报信号，这一点无庸置疑，但它实际上无法得到证实。”
环印度洋地带有关动物生存本能的证据绝非比比皆是。在泰国受灾严重的普吉岛，数百只流浪狗就葬身巨浪。许多狗能够幸存下来是因为它们被爱狗如命的泰国人赶到内陆。
普吉岛居民帕克(Margot Homburg Park)说，“一些狗逃走了，现在正开始陆续回来，但是许多狗被巨浪吞没。”帕克是流浪狗基金会(Soi Dog Foundation)的志愿者。“我们在建筑物的二层和三层上看到狗的脚印，所以一些狗确实能感觉到自己必须往高处走。但是我在距离海边500米的院子里有9只狗，我没有注意到它们有任何异常行为。我丈夫在早上8点感觉到地震，但是狗没有做出任何反应。”
但是在马来西亚位于槟城南部大约70公里的Taiping动物园，记者麦肯泰瑞(Ian McIntyre)称，地震发生的当天早晨，他在海啸来临前发现了一些奇怪的事情。他说，动物突然表现出异常举动，包括河马在内的一些动物跑进避身处，再也不肯出来。他对亲戚开玩笑说，在圣诞节的第二天，连动物也休假了。
中国的地震官员在海城地震后对动物行为仍相当重视，但是中国出现的一些迹象也让人感到疑惑。在海城地震一年过后，另外一个比广岛原子弹威力大400倍的地震摧毁了唐山，夺走250,000条人命。尽管科学家称他们发现了动物报警的征兆，但是这些征兆在事后才为人所知，这让人怀疑其真实性。
但是根据联合国的一份报告，在邻近唐山的一个村庄里，村民对这次灾难早已准备，部分原因是他们注意到鼬鼠、老鼠等夜间动物居然光天化日之下四处逃窜。
中国地震局的研究员王晓青（Wang Xiaoqing，音译）称，地震影响到地下水的流动、地球的磁场、温度和声波。“动物比人类更敏感，因此它们能够比人类先感觉到变化，”他说。
印度的巴鲁称，在野生动物保护区的2,000多个动物中，只有一头野猪死于这次海啸。
巴鲁前日晚间在对保护区进行巡视时说，“动物们很安全。我们没有发现有黑羚羊死亡。我现在在保护区内，我能看到所有的黑羚羊，它们都安然无恙。”
印度最大的动物救助组织Blue Cross驻马德拉斯的办事处经理哈卡桑(Saraswathi Haksan)说，在马德拉斯地区没有收到有关动物尸体的报告。她不知道这是否是因为动物具有一种特殊预感，或者只是因为没有对动物的死亡进行报告。
她说，“这非常意外。即使新闻也没有任何的报导。也许只有上帝才知道。”
