The unexpected talent of goats. They will help avoid natural disasters

Scientists started an interesting experiment using various animals, including goats. It is intended to help better prepare for natural disasters, including volcanic eruptions.

Goats can predict earthquakes and eruptions

Martin Wikelski from the department of animal behavior at the Max Planck Institute started an unusual project. His team wants to launch a fleet of six satellites and track animal behavior to better predict natural disasters. This fleet of satellites is intended to look at mammals, birds and insects that have previously been implanted with miniature transmitters.

Preliminary experiments showed that goats in herds could successfully predict when an earthquake was about to occur in Sicily near the Mount Etna volcano. Wikelski’s research showed that animals became nervous just before a volcanic eruption. Under normal circumstances, they would be eager to move to higher parts of the area, but in this situation they did not. “They know what’s coming. We don’t know how they do it, but they are undoubtedly prepared for it,” said the head of the research team.

Similarly, scientists looked at dogs, sheep and other farm animals in the Abruzzo Mountains (near Rome) and found that these animals were able to sense in advance 7 of the 8 largest earthquakes in this region in the last 12 years.

Interestingly, the phenomenon of strange behavior of animals before earthquakes or eruptions dates back to ancient times. The Greek chronicler Thucydides recorded that rats, dogs, snakes and otters escaped from the Greek polis of Helike just before the earthquake of 373 BC Also in modern times, a similar phenomenon was recorded in 1975 in China, when snakes and rats abandoned their lairs before the seismic tremors in Haicheng.

While it is known that animals change their behavior before earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, science does not have an exact answer as to why this happens. Wikelski speculates that tectonic movements cause enormous pressure that throws a huge amount of ions from rocks into the air, to which animals may respond.

Microchip technology used to track animal movements from space may not only be useful in avoiding natural disasters, but also can help control epidemics, e.g. African swine fever. Thanks to this, scientists will also be able to better understand the processes behind the migration of animals, such as the butterfly species, which migrate over 3,000 kilometers between Europe and Africa every year. Wikelski believes that thanks to his team’s experiment, he will be able to determine how animals react to changes in their natural environment caused by global warming.

Icarus CubeSat satellites (six pieces) are scheduled to be launched in 2025.