by L.B. Woodgate

Created on: March 04, 2010   Last Updated: March 05, 2010

Animal Wisdom: Reading the Warning Signs of Climate Change

While humans appear to nonchalantly live in their immediate consumer worlds, the rest of the planet is preparing for the inevitable. Following the tsunami in parts of Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka back in December 2004, it was noted afterwards that with all the carnage and human death that had occurred, there was almost no sign of animal deaths.

At an animal reserve at Yala in Sri Lanka with monkeys, leopards, buffalo, elephants and 130 species of birds, virtually no animal remains were found. I remember being struck by this and then recalled similar situations in the past where animals sensed impending disaster and fled the scene in what can be caricatured as a survival mode.

Many have claimed that animals have a “6th sense” but there is no real scientific evidence for this. Apart from our five natural senses, the only other sense that exists on a few species appears to be the ability to detect electric and magnetic fields.

Some aquatic species have this ability which helps them detect their prey or, in the case of the platypus, alerts them of predators. Much has been recorded over time that notes how animals and other life forms react when “earth changes” occur.

The general belief that what aids wild animals to pick up danger signals before tragedy hits is their ability to utilize the existing senses that they have. We all know dogs have a keener sense of hearing and that canaries have a keener sense of smell, at least for methane.

What animals also have in common with each other that isn’t relatively shared with humans are the distractions that people create in their environment, especially those distractions that words can generate. Animals are more attuned to their environment than humans based on pitches and vibrations as well as color and temperature changes.

Verbal signals in the form of words have no meaning to the animal kingdom so they can’t be deceived to interpret what all their other senses are telling them.

They are also more inclined to respond immediately to environmental changes rather than delay as humans often do, thinking there’s not a threat or it won’t be as bad as it could be.

It’s not to say that other life forms apart from humans are more intelligent but there does seem to be quantitative evidence that validates the ability of non-human species to read the signs that natures sends concerning impending threats to

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