Warning toads

14juli2010
Source: scrientias.nl
For years mankind has been searching for something that can warn us when an earthquake is imminent. According to a British biologist the common toad can predict this. She studied a population of toads before, during and after the earthquake in L’Aguila (Italy).
Three hundred people died and forty thousand people had to be evacuated because of the earthquake on April 6 2009, which had a 6.3 on Richter’s scale.
The biologist studied a toad population (Bufo bufo) at the San Ruffino lake, 75 km north of L’Aguila. She recorded the number of animals, the temperature, humidity, wind speed, rain and other conditions. On March 28th over ninety male toads had gathered for the mating season, but two days later their number dropped significantly. On April 1st, five days before the earthquake, 96% of the males had fled. On April 9th, with full moon, some dozens of animals were spotted again, but a few days later they disappeared. Only from April 15th, two days after the last aftershock, their numbers rose again. In the days around the earthquake no mating behaviour was seen, nor any fresh egg strings. Normally, male toads stay on location once they have arrived and only leave when the mating season is over.

How did the toads know that an earthquake was coming? The researcher combined her data with data on the electrical activity in the ionosphere. She found that the departure of the toads correlates with a disruption in very low frequent radio waves. According to the researcher toads are able to detect the very early signs of an earthquake, such as the release of certain gases and loaded particles. Perhaps the toads can be used as a warning system.

The results of this research were published in the Journal of Zoology of the Zoological Society of London.