Common toads can detect earthquakes in advance

[Cees Binkhorst]

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Een belangrijke ontdekking.
Nu nog ontdekken HOE ze het aanvoelen.

Groet / Cees

Common toads can detect earthquakes in advance
Toads are able to detect earthquakes up to five days in advance,
scientists have discovered.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/7538400/Common-toads-can-detect-earthquakes-in-advance.html
By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent
Published: 7:31AM BST 31 Mar 2010

Researchers at The Open University made the discovery after studying a
population of common toads just outside L'Aquila in central Italy before
last year's earthquake hit.

They noticed that even though it was the creature's important breeding
season, 96 per cent of the male toads abandoned the area five days
before the earthquake struck in April.

The number of paired toads at the breeding site also dropped to zero
three days before the earthquake.

No fresh spawn was found at the site from the date that the earthquake
struck to the date of the last significant aftershock.

Breeding sites are male-dominated and the toads would normally remain in
situ from the point that breeding activity begins, to the completion of
spawning.

“Our study is one of the first to document animal behaviour before,
during and after an earthquake," said lead author Dr Rachel Grant.

"Our findings suggest that toads are able to detect pre-seismic cues
such as the release of gases and charged particles, and use these as a
form of earthquake early warning system.”

It is believed that just before an earthquake radon gas and gravity
waves are released from the earth which are then reflected back by the
atmosphere and detected by the toads.

The research was published in the Journal Of Zoology.

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