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Predicting the arrival of an earthquake would be an incredible feat and could save many lives.<\/p>\n
Throughout the ages, there have been many beliefs that animals, especially cats, can sense earthquakes in advance. Is it true that these animals can predict seismic events? <\/p>\n
Today, 17 February, National Cat Day, we celebrate the elegant feline and pet, and try to answer this question. <\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n According to expert hypotheses, cats have a special sensitivity to the Earth\u2019s magnetic fields and are able to feel slight tremors, not perceptible by humans, that occur shortly before an earthquake shock of greater intensity.<\/p>\n German scientist, Helmut Tributsch, conducted a study on the correlation between animal behaviour and earthquakes published in the 1900 book \u201cI profeti del terremoto\u201d, in which he argued that animals could feel a flow of ions\u2014electrically charged air\u2014created by the friction of the Earth\u2019s underground plates rubbing together just before the occurrence of an earthquake, since they have drier body surfaces than humans, they are, therefore, more sensitive to electrostatic charges that precede seismic events.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Another research, conducted by American geologist Jim Berkland in the late 1980s and early 1990s, made it possible to predict two earthquakes in California by tracking ads for lost pets, especially cats, in newspapers. Berkland\u2019s theory was that cats that knew in advance that an earthquake would occur ran away from home to escape the catastrophe, although there was no scientific evidence to support this hypothesis. <\/p>\n Do cats really sense earthquakes early? <\/strong> In June 2018, a video<\/strong><\/a> went around the web documenting the strange behaviour of a clutter of cats at the Cat Caf\u00e9 in Osaka, Japan<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the video you can see many felines start moving at the same time, as if something had scared them: some raise their heads suddenly, others stand up on their feet or move around the room. About ten seconds later, the room begins to shake strongly, the chandeliers and some furniture sway, there are noises of objects slamming against something. It is an earthquake that has just hit the city of Osaka. <\/p>\n