Lesson on TATAKalikasan, Ateneo de Manila University
87.9 FM Radyo Katipunan, every Thursday) 11 to 12 a.m.
Nature’s Biological Early Warning System
Dr Abe V Rotor
Let's heed the biological signals of animals, which contributed to their fitness to survive evolution - and become part of our living world. Indeed they are living sentinels of the dangers we face.
Paco fish at home are uneasy before earthquake strikes.
Animals are uneasy before an earthquake strikes
There was something very peculiar with our fish pets at home before a massive earthquake hit Japan and caused a deadly tsunami last March 11, 2011.
For three consecutive days our Paco and Hito (catfish) in our garden ponds refused to eat, and were uneasy as if looking for a way to get out of their confinement. All of a sudden I felt they were no longer tame. They were jittery and nervous. Were they telling me of something?
I thought it was the water getting foul with an over growth of green algae. But it was not. I changed their food with another brand. And feed them at any opportunity. Still they didn't respond. I felt sorry for them if they would inevitably end up on the grill. Which my children and I adamantly decided. Our hito, five of them, have been our pet for some three years now, while our paco, ten for them, make easily one kilo each.
Then a flash news came. Japan was hit by the worst earthquake in living memory with an intensity up to 9.0 - so strong it made the earth's rotation faster, and the Japan plate to move.
I remember when Chile was hit by an 8.0 earthquake (which increased the tilt of the earth)*, our hito (catfish) which were a year old then, exhibited the same behavior as they did before the Japan earthquake.
Can animals - and other living things for that matter - predict the coming of an earthquake? I know there are organisms that warn us of a coming rain (hovering horde of dragonflies), or flood (earthworm abandoning their burrows and moving to higher ground). A colony of ants on the move with their young and eggs means siyam-siyam (nepnep Ilk) has arrived. This is characterized by nine days of continuous rain, followed by another nine with a respite of good weather in between. Even plants warn us of a coming drought, such as the kapok when it is heavily laden with pods.
This is the expertise of old folks, and scientists agree with them to a certain extent based on scientific evidences.
Animals are sensitive to the vibrations preceding an earthquake. They perceive the small numerous crackling of the earth before the final break (tectonic), which is the earthquake. As a means of self-preservation they try to escape from stables and pens, seek shelter, run to higher grounds, or simply escape to areas far from the source of the impending earthquake.
1. Snakes come out of their abode, reptiles move away from the water, horses neigh and kick around, elephants seem to defy the command of their masters (like in the case of the 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka). We humans can only detect such minute movements on our inventions such as the Richter Scale.
2. When jellyfish come to the surface of the sea there is an earthquake or tsunami coming. It is when the epicenter of an earthquake occurs under the sea that tsunami may follow. Marine animals as well as land animals can detect minute tremors preceding an earthquake. Because of this they seek for safe areas usually moving upward shallower waters. (NOTE: Such vibrations are generally imperceptible to humans. They are monitored by his invention, the Seismograph, instead.)
3. When cockroaches are flying about, there are plenty of fish to catch. This is not limited to cockroaches. Other insects do swarm at certain stages or seasons of the year. For example, termites swarm at the onset of the heavy rains (monsoon or habagat); honeybees swarm when the queen bee dies, or when a new queen is produced from an old hive.
German cockroach (Blatta germanica), greatly enlarged
4. Gnats or gamu-gamu swarm when their population shoot up due to freedom from predators. Locusts coalesce and migrate if driven by drought that destroys their source of food. Fish are abundant when there are plenty of insects since insects constitute their main food.
5. When earthworms crawl out of their holes, a flood is coming.
This subterranean annelid has built-in sensors, a biblical Noah’s sense of a coming flood, so to speak. Its small brain is connected to nerve clusters, called ganglia, running down the whole body length. These in turn are connected to numerous hair-like protrusions on the cuticle, which serve as receptor. When rain saturates the soil, ground water rises and before it reaches their burrows, they crawl out to higher grounds where they seek refuge until the flood or the rainy season is over. The more earthworms abandoning their burrows, the more we should take precaution.
6. Dogs howl in the night at unseen spirits.
Dogs have keen senses of seeing, smelling and hearing, many times more sensitive than ours. Many animals such as members of the cat family - lions, tigers, and the domesticated cat – are equally, if not more sensitive, in the dark. They also have infrared vision that enhances their predatory habits. Dogs also have an acute sense of smell. The nose of a German shepherd dog has 25,000 sensory cells as compared with the human nose that has only 5,000 cells. That is why dogs are used in sniffing concealed illegal drugs and in tracking down criminals. The limitation of our senses is the mother of many of our beliefs or superstitions.
7. Sporadic and massive brush fire accompanies dry spell or predicts the coming of the El Niño phenomenon. Usually it is at the end of the rainy season that grasses like talahib (Saccharum officinarum) and cogon (Imperata cylindrica) reach the end of their life cycle. In the absence of subsequent rains, these ignite into brush fire, so bad in certain cases that even trees and whole forest burn. Worst scenarios are forest fires as what happen in Australia last 2006, and Indonesia in 2000, the latter sending smoke as far as the Philippines.
Leafhopper, greatly enlarged. Swarming
occurs when its population reaches migratory
level when infestation is heavy. It is a major
pest of rice plant.
8· Numerous leafhoppers (Nepothettix spp., Order Homoptera) smashed on the windshield while driving at night on the highway, means there is population buildup of this pest in the area. Leafhoppers attack rice and other crops in their growing and early maturing periods.
9· Ants move into the house for shelter of a coming strong rain or a typhoon. They even carry with them their young and eggs. Oftentimes some of the members of the colony bear wings. These are soldiers and workers ants which have grown wings in preparation for swarming.
Leafless kalachuchi (frangipani) is an indicator of extreme dry and hot summer.
. Animals are uneasy before an earthquake.
It is because they are sensitive to the vibrations preceding an earthquake. They perceive the small numerous crackling of the earth before the final break (tectonic), which is the earthquake. As a means of self-preservation they try to escape from stables and pens, seek shelter, run to higher grounds, or simply escape to areas far from the impending earthquake. Rodents come out of their abode, reptiles move away from the water, horses neigh and kick around. During the December 26, 2004 tsunami, elephants in Sri Lanka defied their masters, in effect saving them from the disaster. We humans can only detect such minute movements through our inventions such as the Richter Scale.
10. Mosquitoes bite more aggressively before rain.
True. As it prepares to lay eggs, the female mosquito must obtain blood from its host, usually human. to enhance fertility. Failure to do so may cause egg sterility. This finding is useful in scientific research to control mosquitoes without the use of harmful chemicals and destroying the environment.
The mosquito has built-in instruments of a weather bureau, so to speak. They are found in its pair of plumose antenna and tactile hairs that serve as barometer to detect atmospheric pressure, thermometer to register temperature, and hygrometer to sense the level of relative humidity. Note: Only the female mosquito feeds on blood, the male depends on plant sap and exudates.
11. Cicada sings for rain.
When you hear the shrilling song of cicada (kuliglig), it means the rains have arrived. And we expect more rains brought in by the southeast monsoon or habagat in the months to come, ending in October. The cicada spends its immature or nymph stage in the ground feeding on roots of plants. There are species that complete their life cycle in one year (annual cicada which is most common), two years, and seventeen years (often called seventeen-year old locust. Whatever is the species, the emergence of cicada is at the onset of the rainy season, usually in April or May in most part of the country.
Rain softens the soil and signals the full-grown nymph to get out of its cell. It then climbs to the nearest tree and at some distance from the ground metamorphoses into an adult. It is the male cicada that “sings”, which is actually a continuous rapid high-pitched sound - tick-tack-tick-tack… produced by a pair of drums attached on its abdomen. Imagine the lid of a tin can pressed and released in rapid succession. On the other hand, the female cicada is totally mute and her response to a love call is to get near a Romeo whose song pleases her.
12. A black butterfly that enters the house tells that a close relative is going to die. There is no scientific explanation to this, except that butterflies are attracted by flower-like scents which perfumeries have been trying to copy. Check the brand of your perfume and call the company. Beware though of certain perfumes, they attract bees.
13. Sea turtle about to be butchered shed tears.
A sudden change in environment activates the tear glands to secrete fluid, which we attribute as tears. Such a sight draws pathetic feelings that may save the life of the fated creature. Because sea turtles are endangered species, their tears mean much more to the fate of man. Analogously, “the bell tolls, but tolls for thee.” ~
14. Bamboo foretells the coming of El Niño. El Niño is a climatic phenomenon that occurs every seven years, hence the so-called 7-year itch, or the Joseph's interpretation of the Pharoah's dream of seven years of plenty followed by 7-years of famine. The cycle is erratic though, and even modern tools of forecasting may fail to provide us enough preparation to face its destructive nature.
The worst scenario is predicted by the flowering of bamboo which occurs every 5 to 10 years. Certain species of bamboo flower and die, endangering the forest to fire, and causing starvation of animals like the panda in China which is exclusively a bamboo feeder. Compounding this scenario with scorched landscape, dry river beds and ponds, brush fires, subsidence of the land often leaving gaping cracks, all point out to a major force majeure.
15. Pristine Environment is indicated by abundance of lichens on trunks and branches of trees, rocks, and soil. There are three types: crustose (crust), foliose (leaf-like) and fruticose (fruiting type). They are biological indicators of clean air. The ultimate test is the abundance of the fruticose type of lichens, while the least is the crustose type. On the side of the animal world, the ultimate indicator of clean air and healthy environment is the abundance of fireflies. ~
16. Other indicators from plants. Presence of some insects on certain fruits and vegetables without unduly spoiling their appearance indicate they are free from harmful pesticide residues. This may also apply to sweet potato with ulalo (larva of Cylas formicarius, a beetle).
On the other hand, beware of crucifers like cabbage, lettuce and cauliflower which have no blemishes caused by pests and diseases - they are likely to contain residues of pesticides.
17. Secondary shoots (baraniw Ilk) of ampalaya, squash, sayote, and the like come from spent standing crops. They are relatively cheaper.
18. When the price of tomato suddenly goes up, it means untimely rains spoiled the crop. So with onions, garlic, eggplant, and other dry season crops. ~
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*By speeding up Earth's rotation, the magnitude 8.8 earthquake—the fifth strongest ever recorded, according to the USGS—should have shortened an Earth day by 1.26 millionths of a second, according to new computer-model calculations by geophysicist Richard Gross of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. For comparison, the same model estimated that the magnitude 9 Sumatra earthquake in December 2004 shortened the length of a day by 6.8 millionths of a second. Gross also estimates that the Chile earthquake shifted Earth's figure axis by about three inches (eight centimeters). Internet
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