Did animals' 'sixth sense' save them from tsunami?

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Did animals' 'sixth sense' save them from tsunami?

Did the animals 'sense' something, or diid they just run faster?

A friend of mine once had a grey squirrel which would build a nest for itself in its cage before any big storm. On other days, it would sleep in the open floor of the cage. This is pretty easy to explain if you believe that animals are sensitive to air pressure, and that's how I always explained behavior like this, as well as the common story of 'the old uncle' whos trick knee hurts before a storm.

But a tsunami is not a storm, and the earthquake was very far away. How did these animals sense the tsunami coming? Or did they? Maybe it's a statistical fluke because there 'are' dead animals but nobody is noticing them because they have bigger problems to worry about. Or maybe there just aren't as many animals around as there are people. Or maybe they swim better.

What could it be?

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I think 6th sense is a misnomer -- I think it's a matter of how the existing 5 senses are put to use. I do think animals are more attuned to these things than humans are, generally. But rather than a "6th sense", I think they just put together what their (often better than ours) senses are telling them.

People have often said I have a "6th sense" -- it's really just that I'm very attuned to my environment as a coping mechanism for one of my regular senses being basically inoperational. (I say "basically" because nobody can be completely 100% deaf, you can still pick up vibrations etc.)

I think the first wave + receding ocean could have provided enough clues for many animals to get enough out of the way to escape the whole thing.

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sozobe wrote:

I think 6th sense is a misnomer -- I think it's a matter of how the existing 5 senses are put to use.

Hi Soz, I agree with you that there is no "6th sense", certainly in terms of any magic, but I think there may be more to physiological senses than just the 5 we normally list. In particular, pressure and vibration, as you've mentioned, may be sensed without ears. Snakes do this through their bodies.

sozobe wrote:

I think the first wave + receding ocean could have provided enough clues for many animals to get enough out of the way to escape the whole thing.

Apparently some of these waves penetrated inland up to two miles, some of them into wildlife reserves. That was probably the first wave, and it probably moved pretty fast. So it is a bit surprising that so few animals (if any) were killed, unless they really did have enough warning to move to safe ground.

The article said that the didn't even find any dead rabbits, which doesn't surprise me because they probably all went underground, where they drowned, and remain. But surely some animals would have tried to hide in cracks and holes and piles of debris. And how far would a leopard run before it just tried to hide in a pile of brush or something?

I'm guessing that there are a whole bunch of things happening here, all coming together:

Animals sense pressure/vibration changes which make them nervous which gets them ready to run.
Animals run faster than people.
Animals swim better than people.
Animals live in the open where there is less debris to bang them up in a flood.
and Animals which are killed in the flood are not noticed because people have bigger things to worry about.

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I think God wrapped all the animals in a spiritual protective shield as a sign to a wicked mankind...I'm taking a lunch with Jerry Falwell about this today and also to discuss how this entire episode was brought on by the gay plague...I'll get back to you ASAP....

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Bi-Polar Bear wrote:

I think God wrapped all the animals in a spiritual protective shield as a sign to a wicked mankind...I'm taking a lunch with Jerry Falwell about this today and also to discuss how this entire episode was brought on by the gay plague...I'll get back to you ASAP....

I can't wait to hear what Jerry has to say about this. Confused

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Quote:

Hi Soz, I agree with you that there is no "6th sense", certainly in terms of any magic, but I think there may be more to physiological senses than just the 5 we normally list. In particular, pressure and vibration, as you've mentioned, may be sensed without ears. Snakes do this through their bodies.

Wouldn't that be touch?

I agree with your summary, though.

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sozobe wrote:

Quote:
Hi Soz, I agree with you that there is no "6th sense", certainly in terms of any magic, but I think there may be more to physiological senses than just the 5 we normally list. In particular, pressure and vibration, as you've mentioned, may be sensed without ears. Snakes do this through their bodies.

Wouldn't that be touch?

Maybe. Except I usually think of touch as skin surface though (feel). It's all nerves, whether it be eyes, ears, or tongue, but we call it different things depending on how those nerves interact with our perception.

Did you ever notice how a big bass drum in a parade can make your lungs vibrate and tickle? We have nerves that we're not normally aware of.

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I don't know about over there...but in the UK we have dogs who live with epileptics (hope sp. okay) similar to guide (seeing) dogs that will warn their owners of impending fits. I don't know how they do it...but it's food for thought.

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I'm not convinced there is no sixth sense. I agree with Ros's list of reasons animals didn't die and would add "durability" to that list. But, I also think that humans and animals alike have more perception than we can prove. Do you know when someone is staring at you? Even if they're beyond your peripheral field of vision? Have you ever sensed danger, but couldn't put your finger on why? (If you do, pay it heed : idea:) This Tsunami was an unprecedented happenstance in these animal's lives. They couldn't know there was danger yet they did. Not only did they know it, but seemingly all new instinctively that hiding wasn't an option either. Nothing in their reactionary memories could have told them that, so where did it come from? Genes passed down from Tsunami's past? I don't know if it's bunk or not; but I remember reading statistics that were very suggestive of people not liking to get on airplanes that later crash. Like double the normal cancels and no-shows on the ones that do, collectively, or something like that. I really don't think we can yet know all of the reasons the canary sings but we should damn sure pay attention when it does.

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So Obill you're not even giving proper consideration to my well thought out theory? Damn....

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I'd consider that all touch, yeah. I'd consider reception of vibrations touch, unless the vibrations are processed through the audiory nerves.

What I'm saying is that while you could argue about where the line is between feeling and hearing, I think all of what you talk about could fall under one or more of the five major senses rather than being completely outside of any of them. What I'm saying, and I have a feeling you agree with, is that what we refer to as a 6th sense is how all of these various senses interact -- a sum greater than its parts kind of thing.

smorgs, yep, exactly. (We have those here too, I know someone who has one.) I think it's again reading of cues, or use of heightened senses -- a chemical change, or something.

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Bi-Polar Bear wrote:

So Obill you're not even giving proper consideration to my well thought out theory? Damn....

Actually, I laughed out loud, and remain dumbfounded how anyone wouldn't consider this a strike against an Almighty, should one exist. (Ants and giant magnifying glasses and all.) If that sh!t was intentional, it wasn't a mysterious way, but rather a purely evil way.

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I think I agree with OcBill here. There seems to be such a thing as a 'sense' beyond the traditional five, something which cannot be easily explained. I have often thought, for example, that some species of animals have the gift of telepathy. Absent a spoken language, how else do you explain group (herd, flock, bevy etc.) behavior that is exquisitely coordinated?

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I was going to start a thread and post this--now, no need to start a thread:

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Tsunami Adds to Belief in Animals' "Sixth Sense"

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JOHANNESBURG - Wild animals seem to have escaped the Indian Ocean tsunami, adding weight to notions they possess a "sixth sense" for disasters, experts said on Thursday.
Sri Lankan wildlife officials have said the giant waves that killed over 24,000 people along the Indian Ocean island's coast seemingly missed wild beasts, with no dead animals found.

"No elephants are dead, not even a dead hare or rabbit. I think animals can sense disaster. They have a sixth sense. They know when things are happening," H.D. Ratnayake, deputy director of Sri Lanka's Wildlife Department, said on Wednesday.

The waves washed floodwaters up to 3 km (2 miles) inland at Yala National Park in the ravaged southeast, Sri Lanka's biggest wildlife reserve and home to hundreds of wild elephants and several leopards. "There has been a lot of anecdotal evidence about dogs barking or birds migrating before volcanic eruptions or earthquakes. But it has not been proven," said Matthew van Lierop, an animal behaviour specialist at Johannesburg Zoo.

"There have been no specific studies because you can't really test it in a lab or field setting," he told Reuters.

Other authorities concurred with this assessment.

"Wildlife seem to be able to pick up certain phenomenon, especially birds ... there are many reports of birds detecting impending disasters," said Clive Walker, who has written several books on African wildlife.

Animals certainly rely on the known senses such as smell or hearing to avoid danger such as predators.

The notion of an animal "sixth sense" -- or some other mythical power -- is an enduring one which the evidence on Sri Lanka's battered coast is likely to add to.

The Romans saw owls as omens of impending disaster and many ancient cultures viewed elephants as sacred animals endowed with special powers or attributes.

The tsunami was triggered by an earthquake in the Indian Ocean on Sunday. It killed tens of thousands of people in Asia and East Africa.

Story by Ed Stoddard

Story Date: 31/12/2004

http://www.planetark.com/avantgo/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=28747

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sozobe wrote:

What I'm saying is that while you could argue about where the line is between feeling and hearing, I think all of what you talk about could fall under one or more of the five major senses rather than being completely outside of any of them. What I'm saying, and I have a feeling you agree with, is that what we refer to as a 6th sense is how all of these various senses interact -- a sum greater than its parts kind of thing.

There's also the power of deduction, which isn't a sense per se, but can lead to a reaction none the less.

One Tsunami survivor described being in a train and seeing the look of terror on people's faces as they ran, so he ran too, before he knew what the problem was.

I'm pretty comfortable with the idea that animals can feel when another animal is in terror, and not acting normally. So maybe when all the fish leave the shores, all the sea birds fly away, and all the dock rats see it and get nervous, which scares the cats, which scares the dogs, which run for cover and a wave of animal panic sweeps inland faster than the water...

Animals senses and peoples senses don't act in isolation. They combine to give us a powerful representation of the world. The animals perception of the world around them must be colored more deeply be a different primary sense, which gives them a more clear sense of danger.

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OCCOM BILL wrote:

I'm not convinced there is no sixth sense. I agree with Ros's list of reasons animals didn't die and would add "durability" to that list.

I would also add "skiddishness" to the list. I think wild animals are more prone to run when they are nervous than people are. People are used to being safe, so they are less attuned to vague feelings of unease.

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Merry Andrew wrote:

I think I agree with OcBill here. There seems to be such a thing as a 'sense' beyond the traditional five, something which cannot be easily explained. I have often thought, for example, that some species of animals have the gift of telepathy. Absent a spoken language, how else do you explain group (herd, flock, bevy etc.) behavior that is exquisitely coordinated?

Merry and Bill, do you think that this "sixth sense" is some type of supernatural ability, or do you think it's a single sense which we haven't identified, or perhaps just a collection of feelings generated by the other senses?

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rosborne979 wrote:

Merry Andrew wrote:
I think I agree with OcBill here. There seems to be such a thing as a 'sense' beyond the traditional five, something which cannot be easily explained. I have often thought, for example, that some species of animals have the gift of telepathy. Absent a spoken language, how else do you explain group (herd, flock, bevy etc.) behavior that is exquisitely coordinated?

Merry and Bill, do you think that this "sixth sense" is some type of supernatural ability, or do you think it's a single sense which we haven't identified, or perhaps just a collection of feelings generated by the other senses?

Don't know. Perhaps all of the above, perhaps none. I'm not that smart by half. Perhaps we pick up on signals hidden in electro-magnetic energy or something and are unaware of it. Personally, I can't fathom how our brains manage to process the truly awesome quantity of information taken in by our eyes alone. I could easily believe there is some kind of, as of yet undiscovered, wavelength that we subconsciously process constantly, while remaining oblivious to it. Maybe every sub-atomic particle in the universe sings it's own song... and when enough sing in unison; animals sense it.

Just rereading what I've written here( Rolling Eyes

), it looks to stupid to submit, but I'm at a loss to explain it any better. Confused

I'm truly clueless what the sixth sense could be, but open to the possibility it's there anyway. <shrugs>

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It is clear that animals sense what humans cannot identify about natural disasters. A puppy, not very smart in many respects Smile

, around my home, used to bark insistently a few hours before a thunder storm coming, which humans, aside from weather stations, could not notice.

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satt_fs wrote:

It is clear that animals sense what humans cannot identify about natural disasters. A puppy, not very smart in many respects , around my home, used to bark insistently a few hours before a thunder storm coming, which humans, aside from weather stations, could not notice.

It's pretty clear that people and animals are sensitive to atmospheric pressure changes. Many people report specific aches and pains before storms (pressure drops).

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Did animals' 'sixth sense' save them from tsunami?

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