Ms Jewett Science 8

1. Animals sense impending earthquakes. A golden oldie. The notion that animals anticipate impending earthquakes predates the birth of Christ, with documented references to unusual animal behavior as early as the fourth century B.C. This belief was fueled recently by accounts, including one in The Washington Post, that some animals at the National Zoo had their knickers in a knot just before the 5.8 quake.

1. Animals sense impending earthquakes.

This notion could contain a kernel of truth: Being generally squat, four-legged, close to the ground and inclined to sit still, an animal might feel an initial weak shaking that goes unnoticed by humans until stronger waves arrive. But also, it is an example of a natural human tendency to look back in time for anomalies, or precursors, that supposedly heralded the coming quake. Every pet owner understands that, say, cats and dogs sometimes behave strangely for no apparent reason; that's what cats and dogs do. And if an earthquake had not subsequently struck, you can bet we would not be talking about strange animal behavior this week — because we wouldn't have noticed anything out of the ordinary. As far as we understand, animals, like humans, have no ability to predict earthquakes.