Reuters: Where Are All the Dead Animals? Sri Lanka Asks

[truthpusher]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=570&u=/nm/20041229/sc_nm/quake_lanka_wildlife_dc_1&printer=1

Where Are All the Dead Animals? Sri Lanka Asks

Wed Dec 29, 4:41 AM ET


COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lankan wildlife officials are stunned -- the worst tsunami in memory has killed around 22,000 people along the Indian Ocean island's coast, but they can't find any dead animals.

Giant waves washed floodwaters up to 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.

"The strange thing is we haven't recorded any dead animals," H.D. Ratnayake, deputy director of the national Wildlife Department, told Reuters Wednesday.

"No elephants are dead, not even a dead hare or rabbit," he added. "I think animals can sense disaster. They have a sixth sense. They know when things are happening."

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=570&u=/nm/20041229/sc_nm/quake_lanka_wildlife_dc_1&printer=1

[henslee]

1. Wow, do we have a lot to learn from our furry and feathered friends.

Hope we don't wipe them out before then.

[aquart]

2. And, possibly, when you wake up and Fido is missing...

Along with Fluffy and every other animal in the neighborhood, it might be taken as A HINT?

[xultar]

3. No Fuckin Shit. They say Animals know days in advance. n/t

[TexanDem]

15. Animals definitely have an instinct for these things.

About 10 or so years ago, whenever there was that big earthquake in San Francisco that collapsed the freeways and stuff (couldn't find it on Web to get exact year) my cat Molly, who was then quite young, acted all weird, crying out, and going to the windows about 5:00 or so in the morning. Later that morning when I heard the news of the earthquake I realized it occurred at the time Molly was acting strange. What's so amazing about that is I live in Southeast Texas! LONG ways away! The earthquake was much closer to them than that one was to me and the animals must have detected impending danger. It is eerie, though.

[nashville_brook]

18. my grandmother said that before the hurricane Camille

all the beach critters headed west. crabs littered the business district. sandpipers disappeared. etc.

[montana_hazeleyes]

47. It happened

October 17th, 1989 at about 5:04 p.m. Just before the World Series Game that was to be played at Candlestick Park that night.

It was 7.1

We haven't had much noticable activity here since then, so I'm expecting something big before long.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

55. Food for thought...

>We haven't had much noticable activity here since then, so I'm
>expecting something big before long.

1) The '89 Loma Prieta earthquake occured on the portion of the fault near Santa Cruz, and didn't release any energy stored in the fault system where it is closest to San Francisco. Strain is still building in the peninsula section of the fault.

2) The Hayward fault (which is close to 580 in Oakland) is long overdue for an earthquake, and it might go as high as 6.9 or even 7.0. Consider the development along that fault - it's much more dense than any development over the San Andreas in the Bay Area.

3) The Hayward fault is about as close to downtown SF as the San Andreas.

When the Hayward goes, it's going to be a real nightmare - think thousands of dead and injured, massive property damage, etc. And I don't want to think about what would happen if it mobilized some of the slow-moving landslides in the Berkeley/Oakland hills.

[montana_hazeleyes]

57. Yes you are so right.

We are sitting on a powder keg. Most folks around this area don't think about it until something happens, then afer a while become complacent again unfortunatly.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

58. Yeah...

And the various bay area governments do a good job of ignoring the problem, lest it impact commerce in some way. :)

[alfredo]

75. You doing a lot better than cities along the

New Madrid fault.

http://www.ceri.memphis.edu/public/facts_long.shtml


The New Madrid Fault System


The greatest earthquake risk east of the Rocky Mountains is along the New Madrid fault system. Damaging earthquakes are much less frequent than in California, but when they do occur, the damage can be far greater, due to the underlying geology.

The New Madrid fault system, or the New Madrid seismic zone, is a series of faults beneath the continental crust in a weak spot known as the Reelfoot Rift. It cannot be seen on the surface. The fault system extends 150 miles southward from Cairo, Illinois through New Madrid and Caruthersville, Missouri, down through Blytheville, Arkansas to Marked Tree, Arkansas. It dips into Kentucky near Fulton and into Tennessee near Reelfoot Lake, and extends southeast to Dyersburg, Tennessee. It crosses five state lines, and crosses the Mississippi River in at least three places.

[jwirr]

77. Isn't there an aquifer below that area of Iowa/Nebraska?

What relationship would these quakes have to that aquifer? That could certainly cause a bit of damage if the earth's crust were to open into that great hole!

[alfredo]

78. Any shift will alter the water table. Look at

Reel Foot Lake. The last big quake (1810) there formed that lake. As far as an aquifer in Iowa,, I have no idea.

http://www.ceri.memphis.edu/compendium/eyewitness/

http://arjournals.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146%2Fannurev.earth.24.1.339?cookieSet=1

[Kota]

4. Wow thanks.

[R Hickey]

5. What if the animals in the park had been seals and penquins?

Hum?

[fryguy]

6. think they mean non-human animals

last i checked, humans were still part of the animal kingdom....we're just not as prescient in sensing danger as some other members of the kingdom....

[progressiveBadger]

33. I think we are...

just in different ways. And most of us are too stupid to realize that their daily angst and fear is because we are on the brink of disaster.
In any case, it is always interesting when we "superior" animals get a piece of humble pie from a story like this. :)

[heidler1]

50. No doubt IMO that human animals need infrastructure for survival. Other

animals will probably prosper with this destruction. So who's the most vulnerable?

[FlaGranny]

86. Remember last week when this board

practically lit up with people sensing impending disaster? Makes you wonder.

[shance]

7. I guess the hundreds of whales/dolphins washing up to shore don't matter?

There are most definitely animals being affected by this however much our media wants to candy coat it.

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. Got a link for that?

I haven't heard anything about whales or dolphins being affected, and it's surprising - the waves shouldn't have any effect on animals that live out at sea.

[xultar]

11. No shit even scuba divers in the resorts didn't know what happened.

I was just gonna post that too...but you beat me to it...:spank:

[Strelnikov_]

21. Underwater, Or A Ways Offshore, You Probably Wouldn't

A Tsunami is basically a pressure transient. As the transient approaches shore, and the water becomes less shallow, the energy balance (less losses) is maintained by the water surface rising.

It is kind of like a storm surge, with 'high' water pressure 'pushing', instead of 'low' air pressure 'pulling'. The wave is simply the front of the 'surge' coming ashore.

If you are far enough out, there would be no surge wave. Underwater, there would be a small increase in water pressure.

[TahitiNut]

24. Indeed, other than the apparent tidal ebb and flow ...

... which is something that almost all scuba divers are quite familiar with (just "go with the flow"), it's my opinion that scuba diving would've been one of the safest activities at that time. Even being on a boat outside of any barrier reef would've been quite safe. I doubt we'll hear of any scuba divers that sustained any injury whatsoever.

[arikara]

35. They had an interview with someone who was snorkeling

she wasn't physically hurt either. She didn't really realize anything was wrong until all these bodies were floating around her. She was picked up by a fishing boat and had to stay on it for 36 hours because they couldn't get to shore.

[Shakespeare]

22. I only saw ONE story about a pod of 20 whales beaching in Australia.

That's a pretty small stranding. No evidence at all that it's related to the quake/tsunami.

[xultar]

25. That beaching is related to underwater bombing or something they

are doing in Austrailia. It has nothing to do with the tsunami.

[Ms_Mary]

27. I'm a little confused about that as well.

[Carni]

72. Well with all due respect they couldn't head to high ground

They were screwed...it's not like they could hop out of the Indian Ocean and start running.

[iconoclastic cat]

9. Of course, if Condi Rice had seen the animals running, she'd have acted.

[xultar]

12. Only if she had flight and seat numbers n/t

[roseBudd]

10. i think the animals felt and heard the earthquake and the

tsunami. There is some success in predicting earthquakes by tracking Lost & Found pet classifieds.

[AngryWhiteLiberal]

13. Maybe they'll have a chance now given deforestation & bush kills

Sri Lanka and Madagascar have the WORST track record on destroying natural habitats and rampant deforestation. Wild land animals can avoid natural disasters, apparently...but, they do a horrible job of avoiding man-made disasters.

JB

[illflem]

14. Q: Can animals predict earthquakes?

A: Changes in animal behavior can not be used to predict earthquakes. Even though there have been documented cases of unusual animal behavior prior to earthquakes, a reproducible connection between a specific behavior and and the occurrence of an earthquake has not been made. Animals change their behavior for many reasons and given that an earthquake can shake millions of people, it is likely that a few of their pets will, by chance, be acting strangely before an earthquake.

From http://earthquake.usgs.gov/faq/myths.html

Apparently the approaching wave was rather loud, of course any animal would flee from a strange noise.

[haele]

45. My cats won't.

They've actually slept through a 4.1 where the epicenter was only 30 miles away, getting up only because I did to check for house damage - luckly, only two cracked windows. They thought it was feeding time.

The dog didn't move, either. She was zonked out on the couch, and remained that way through the inspection and susequent feeding of kittys after I'd been tripped about four-five times.
However, a year previous, a couple of my rentmate's birds went crazy about 5 minutes prior to a rather minor p-wave quake rumble through from another 4.5 - 5 pointer a hundred or so miles away.

Haele

[AngryWhiteLiberal]

48. Birds ARE sensitive to magnetic field changes...

It's no surprise that your birds freaked out. Any earthquake is associated with some change in magnetic field strengths, and apparently birds (particularly migratory birds) are sensitive to these changes.

Maybe the land animals in Sri Lanka were tipped off by strange bird behavior? If the behavior is observational on the land animals part, then this might explain the problem of reproducability as noted in an earlier post.

JB

[KansDem]

63. My sister's bird went berserk just before the 1971 SoCal earthquake...

I have heard they can hear or feel vibrations prior to an earthquake long before we do. Naturally, the urge to fly away no doubt increases at this time ("fly or fight"), but since they're in a cage, I imagine that turns to panic. I know I'd panic if I sensed impending disaster only to be cooped up in a cage with no way out...

[The Stranger]

16. I think all of the animals were Raptured.

Okay, I know, that's enough. I'll try to stop . . .

[idiosyncratic]

17. Awwahhh! You beat me to it.

"The Rapture" was my first thought, too.

:toast:

[nashville_brook]

20. god looked around and said

slim pickins! lets just grab the furry creatures and and start over in the galaxy nextdoor.

[idiosyncratic]

32. LOL!

When I was in college, a speaker talked about how man would bring about the end of the world.

The only "creatures" left were two amoeba. As they looked forward to eons of evolution, one says to the other one,

"This time, no brains."

[nashville_brook]

53. LOVE it! also love how your cacti is giving the bird :)

[HeeBGBz]

62. Oh, my first thought was aliens

hehehe

[Lady Sonelle]

64. Fast Moving Water? Animals carried away? Would that be...

considered a... "velicirapture"?

[Deja Q]

69. ROTFLMAO, I was thinking the same thing.

Still, most animals act out of self preservation. If that's all it takes to get into Heaven, we'd all have vanished by now.

[Daisey Mae]

19. This is great news..... Thanks for sharing it.....

[SoCalDem]

59. I was a bit concerned about the Komodo Islands, but they were unscathed

It would have been a cataclysmic event for those "dinosaur remnants".

Even thoough they are nasty characters, they have managed to hang on , and it would be a shame to lose them

[bmbmd]

23. Saw this on "Flipper" one time.

"So long", they said. "And thanks for all the fish".

[malaise]

26. Birds and hurricanes

If you watch the direction where the birds fly, you usually have a good idea about the direction of a hurricane. They get out first.

We also have a good idea how bad winter up north is likely to be depending on the species of birds that fly south.

[InvisibleBallots]

28. the cats in the house have been bonkers for 24 hours

Should I be worried? Seriously?

[truthpusher]

30. aren't cats already bonkers?

[InvisibleBallots]

31. no, seriously, I have never heard them act like this before

I never made the connection, but a little more than 24 hours ago they started crying non-stop - and I mean non-stop, all through the night. They aren't mine (I can hardly stand cats) but they have water, food, the litter box is clean, they aren't injured? I'm sure I'm being paranoid, but I wonder?

[GoddessOfGuinness]

34. Location?

Are you in earthquake territory?

[InvisibleBallots]

38. Jersey shore

not earthquake territory, but a tsunami might wipe us out.

[haele]

44. Could be heavy rain or snow, too...

I've seen folklore records from the British Isles where in the low-lying marsh counties, house cats will often start crying and trying to get up high in the house before a heavy rainstorm or potential flood condition. If you live in an area where there's been weather unpleasantness that caused flooding, hurricane, or tornado before, your cats may be reacting to that.

It might also be the holidays. Even though we haven't officially "celebrated" them this year, the change of "mommy's" schedule has been enough to cause one of my fur babies to begin crying whenever he can't quickly find me, and he's beginning to mark an old kitty sleeping pillow beside the bed whenever I don't pay enough attention to him.
Cats will pick up on stress around the house pretty quickly. Especially if you've been nervous or in high gear lately.

Haele

[GoddessOfGuinness]

51. I'm just outside DC, and my cats are fine

though they seem hungrier than usual. Maybe we've got a kick-butt winter storm in the works.

Are your smoke detectors working properly? Carbon Monoxide? You might want to give your home a close inspection.

[arikara]

40. My old cat started acting up before an earthquake

He had my husband following him around like he was Lassie, in and out and around the house. To hear my hubby talk about it, it was quite humerous. We only got the tail end of the quake but it was big enough to turn the hanging pictures on their sides and a couple fell off, and the big window in the living room is now looser.

To be honest I doubt we'd be able to tell with our younger cats, they are always doing strange and unpredictable things.

[satori]

46. My cat did the same

I have a cat to, and it was odd I live in NYC and around the quake time, my cat started acting like a dog in some Lassie show as if trying to warn me about something. She never acted that way before.

[catzies]

61. Same here. The day before the Northridge quake in '94 my cat was nuts

I remember this distinctly, after noticing him behave oddly all morning.

He would not step on the floor, as if it were boiling hot or electrified. All day I watched as he repeatedly navigated his way through the house by jumping from table to couch to chair to counter to table etc. etc. If he stepped on the floor at all it would be only to get a drink of water or use the litterbox and he acted like he didn't want to be there at all.

He acted the same way again a few days after than with some of the larger aftershocks. I've never seen another cat do that, before or since.

And my daughter boards her horse near here, and we've never heard reports from the barn that all the horses ever acted strangely before or after a quake, and we've had several.

[TexanDem]

65. This is the earthquake I was trying to think of. in #15

It was so strange how she acted that morning, will never forget it, especially since I live so far away! Glad you mentioned this.

[KalicoKitty]

36. Could they be in heat?

<n/t>

[InvisibleBallots]

39. no way

too old and too fixed

[Merlot]

66. There you go, thinking like a human...

It's great that they have food, water, and clean litter (so important!). But if they're not yours, I'm guessing they miss their real humans. They feel very abandonded. If possible, get a sweater from their real human for them to sleep on.

And, they probably have guessed by now that you can hardly stand cats... ; )

[barb162]

73. my four are always bonkers

[msmcghee]

29. So all the animals in that National park . .

. . sensed there was going to be an earthquake on the floor of the ocean that would create a tidal wave . . and therefore knew to head inland and to the top of local hills to avoid the tsunami.

Or, maybe Jesus told the animals what to do. He probably told the people too but they were too busy selling trinkets to the tourists and didn't listen.

I guess when He wants an earthquake . . . he gets an earthquake.

[VegasWolf]

37. I'm assuming they are talking about non-human animals. n/t

[Tweed]

67. Good work Sherlock

:hi:

[VegasWolf]

76. LOL. One uses one's modest abilities to shed light on the plight. n/t

[FormerOstrich]

41. Animals sense things.....

we were out on a houseboat at Lake Powell a few years ago. The weather forcast called for showers and dropping tempatures for the next day.

but...my dog Molly (yes, another Molly in this thread) spent all day acting odd. Usually she hung out at the house boat but not this day. She spent the entire day digging out a huge hole way up on the beach. Later that evening she curled up in her hole and wouldn't get out. Even bribing her with turkey wouldn't get her to buge. I finally had to force her onto the house boat where she continually tried to get out.

Later that night a terrific storm hit. A bow line broke and we had a terrible time keeping the boat off the rocks. I am so glad I didn't let her stay on the beach because we were blown pretty far from it. The next day was still stormy and they wouldn't let people into the bay to get off the lake. They had boats sinking all over. They were running ferry boat shuttles for people with emergencies. I know during the next 48 hours there were countless times I wish I would have been up in the beach shelter that Molly had made for herself.

[amazona]

42. rapture of the animals ?

Sadly I think a more plausible reason is the park in question may not have as much wildlife as advertised. :-(

[donco6]

43. More likely . . .

. . . livestock don't inhabit areas near the shore. They need pasture. Fowl aren't kept penned in those countries except on big egg farms, so they may have been able to scamper. But I think there may be something about the 6th sense - or perhaps they're just more wary of the unusual in general. When they heard the breakers stop because the water receded so far, I'll bet they decided to get away from the shore. Wish the people had been that observant.

[Massachusetts]

49. They're in Crawford Texas.

[AP]

52. They probably could hear it coming.

[donheld]

54. I love stories like this

who says animals are inferior.

[evolvenow]

56. Perhaps the animals felt the earthquake...and headed inland. The

earthquake happened before the tsunami hit.

My birds begin freaking/flying frantically, minutes before earthquakes. I do not keep them in cages, and a bright night light on, so they do not hurt themselves.

We will only survive by becoming more informed by Nature.

Everyone needs to listen to any instinct they have, best to take extra care with so much shaking going on.

Animals also feel aftershocks.

[Gregorian]

60. Well, we know the elephants already had their trunks on.

Badum tish...





sorry.

[AngryWhiteLiberal]

68. Ugh. (eom)

JB

[Carni]

70. The animals knew it was coming and sought high ground

Anyone with a dog or a cat that has ever been on the fringes of a tornado can figure this one out.

When I hear a weather warning issued and my pets are non-plussed I figure all is well.

When those suckers head for the basement or are already IN the basement I don't walk...I RUN for the basement.

They are amazingly acurate!

[barb162]

71. I wonder if their acute sense of hearing helped... they heard the

tsunami coming from a great distance?

[VegasWolf]

74. My cat started acting up election night 2004. Coincidence, I think not.n/

[SOS]

79. Your cat is proof

that animals can sense an impending disaster.

[truthpusher]

80. My cat peed on my bed today and is acting kind of freaky.

[NYC]

81. That's a possible indication of illness.

Pay close attention to your cat.

[truthpusher]

85. thanks

[Algorem]

82. proves not even a 'dumb animal' would have voted for Bush

just dumber than a brick humans

[Tsiyu]

83. One of my favorite stories: Black Beauty

Just prior to 911, I was writing a piece about animals sensing danger more sharply than humans. In my gut I felt we were on the verge of something but I couldn't put my finger on it.

I couldn't say much to others because how do you explain feelings of impending doom except to call the one who feels them crazy? To comfort and justify myself, I reminded myself in the writing that people mock "intuition" and gut feeling the same way they dismiss animals as "stupid."

Anna Sewell's words came to mind:

http://www.literatureproject.com/black-beauty/black-beauty_12.htm


( As told from the point of view of the horse):

"So back we went and round by the crossroads, but by the time we got to the bridge it was very nearly dark; we could just see that the water was over the middle of it; but as that happened sometimes when the floods were out, master did not stop. We were going along at a good pace, but the moment my feet touched the first part of the bridge I felt sure there was something wrong. I dare not go forward, and I made a dead stop. "Go on, Beauty," said my master, and he gave me a touch with the whip, but I dare not stir; he gave me a sharp cut; I jumped, but I dare not go forward.

"There's something wrong, sir," said John, and he sprang out of the dog-cart and came to my head and looked all about. He tried to lead me forward. "Come on, Beauty, what's the matter?" Of course I could not tell him, but I knew very well that the bridge was not safe.

Just then the man at the toll-gate on the other side ran out of the house, tossing a torch about like one mad.

"Hoy, hoy, hoy! halloo! stop!" he cried.

"What's the matter?" shouted my master.

"The bridge is broken in the middle, and part of it is carried away; if you come on you'll be into the river."

"Thank God!" said my master. "You Beauty!" said John, and took the bridle and gently turned me round to the right-hand road by the river side. The sun had set some time; the wind seemed to have lulled off after that furious blast which tore up the tree. It grew darker and darker, stiller and stiller. I trotted quietly along, the wheels hardly making a sound on the soft road. For a good while neither master nor John spoke, and then master began in a serious voice. I could not understand much of what they said, but I found they thought, if I had gone on as the master wanted me, most likely the bridge would have given way under us, and horse, chaise, master, and man would have fallen into the river; and as the current was flowing very strongly, and there was no light and no help at hand, it was more than likely we should all have been drowned. Master said, God had given men reason, by which they could find out things for themselves; but he had given animals knowledge which did not depend on reason, and which was much more prompt and perfect in its way, and by which they had often saved the lives of men. "

[happyslug]

84. The Wave did not go inland enough

Remember most of the coast is occupied by HUMANS, the places where animals can live ALONG the coast are quite limited. I doubt this wave went over 1/4 mile inland, enough to kill everyone on the local beach, in a Port City, working a fishing boat off the beach, etc but NOT enough inland to kill any animals.

Furthermore with man's dominance of the ocean-land interface you had a lot of objects that could absorb the full affect of the wave (Houses, Bridges, hotels, buildings, boats, people, etc). Thus most of the Animals were well inland when the wave hit as was NORMAL for them. It was the stupid people who were lying on the breach.

Most Tsunamis do NOT go inland more than a couple of Hundred Feet (Through very large ones can go a mile inland). The big issues in how far inland is the type of coastline the Tsunami hits. Rocky cliffs like California, only a couple of feet (Through much further inland in ports like San Franceco and San Diego). If the coast is low lying (Bengledesh) the same Tsunami might go a mile inland along the rivers. If one should hit the Florida Everglades (Slim possiblity given the location of the Bahamas) the Tsunami might even flow right through the region and hit Cuba. Again coastal swamps like the Everglades are rare today, these areas have bene turned over to rice paddies. tourist beachee, or ports. Thus very few wild animals were killed but a lot of Humans.


But again all of this shows that the areas where a Tsunami hits tend to be area where PEOPLE dominates NOT where animals live.

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/brochures/tsunami6.htm