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Animals and the weather

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  • 19-10-2010 3:16pm
    #1
    trebor28
    Registered Users Posts: 1,051 ✭✭✭


    not sure if there is already a thread on this.

    i presume ye have all heard of the old wives tale of animals and birds being able to know what weather is coming and act accordingly.

    anybody believe it?
    i think there is some truth to it.
    like in the late summer months when there is thunder storms brewing all the birds go very quiet and cant be seen.

    last week i saw two swans flying in a n west to s east direction, then the following day i read how the weather is supposed to get a lot colder this week coming from a north west direction.
    i know some of it can just be coincidence.

    the "weather man post man" up in donegal uses things he sees in nature as signs of the weather we are about to get.

    anybody got any thoughts or ideas to add to this?


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    #2
    Wild_Dogger
    Registered Users Posts: 1,035 ✭✭✭Wild_Dogger


    I got a load of slugs living in a hole near the back door .
    I keep an eye on them most days , and you'll know if they're not out it is going to freeze later in the night .

    Just sayin'


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    #3
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    Sorry but I think it's all bull! Nature/wildlife are great at telling what the athmospheric conditions are right now. Nothing more. No long range forecast. Animals/Birds die every year due to poor weather conditions. Migrating birds fly into devastating storms from time to time. All nonsense to say nature can predict the weather.
    Lots of berries mean a harsh winter? No they mean we had a good spring. Slugs staying put in a freeze? Yes because it's already too cold for them by the time they would usually emerge.
    Yes birds will follow or precede a weather front because of wind direction but only hours ahead of the weather that front carries. No prediction involved as we are also aware of the direction of an approaching front at that stage too.


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    #4
    MB Lacey
    Registered Users Posts: 1,277 ✭✭✭MB Lacey


    Cecelia Future Standout wrote: »
    Yes birds will follow or precede a weather front because of wind direction but only hours ahead of the weather that front carries.

    So when newspapers report it's going to be another freezing winter because the Bewicks arrived early in the UK a week ago - is that not really the case?
    It's not a signifier of another really freezing winter?
    (I'll be very happy if it's not as cold as last year!)

    Thanks.


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    #5
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    MB Lacey wrote: »
    So when newspapers report it's going to be another freezing winter because the Bewicks arrived early in the UK a week ago - is that not really the case?
    It's not a signifier of another really freezing winter?
    (I'll be very happy if it's not as cold as last year!)

    Thanks.
    No. All that means is that the weather was colder than usual where they came from, not that here will at some point in the future be colder. If the birds knew that much they could head further south to escape.


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    #6
    trebor28
    Registered Users Posts: 1,051 ✭✭✭trebor28


    how do they know when to return to lake eyre in australia then?


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    #7
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    trebor28 wrote: »
    how do they know when to return to lake eyre in australia then?

    Jeez! We're heading towards a deposition on the influences and vagiaries of migration.

    Length of day, temperature, etc etc.

    I get the impression you just don't like to accept any answer that doesn't fit with your own pre-conceived notions on a subject. ;)


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    #8
    littlebug
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,832 ✭✭✭littlebug


    We had a dog who would go nuts long before a thunder storm. He would barge his way into the house in a frenzied state and park himself under the kitchen table and not budge and stay there til the storm had moved on. He was an irish wolfhound so when he decided he was staying put he was staying put!
    I presume that although it was the thunder and lightning he was afraid of , he had, over time, learned to associate the current weather conditions and changes with the oncoming storm.... so he was sort of predicting the weather as he was sensing the changes before we would. I would call it conditioning or learned behaviour rather than knowing the weather.

    Do birds go quiet when a storm is coming? Would that not be because it's darker?


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    #9
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    littlebug wrote: »
    Do birds go quiet when a storm is coming? Would that not be because it's darker?

    And if they do it's only shortly before the storm. Let's not forget that many animals, such as your dog, have some more developed senses than we do. A dog will hear distant thunder long before we do. Its certainly learned behaviour and just using their natural senses. Prediction suggests an awareness of future events, while what animals generally display is an awareness of current situations as they detect them. I may spot a Goldcrest in a hedge before my wife does but I haven't predicted it. I was just using my binoculars and she was looking the other way. :-)


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    #10
    Alun
    Registered Users Posts: 21,427 ✭✭✭✭Alun


    I always understood that animals were quite sensitive to changes in barometric pressure. Small changes in barometric pressure often precede the more severe changes associated with approaching weather fronts and storms, so couldn't there be a connection there? Ok there isn't going to be a huge time lag involved, but I'm sure I've observed odd behaviour in our cats up to half an hour before the arrival of major storms before.


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    #11
    littlebug
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,832 ✭✭✭littlebug


    With our dog we assumed he was either hearing the storm or it was changes in barometric pressure that he associated with storms or a bit of both. The same dog would go nuts (and run off up the fields rather than hide under the table) up to 20 minutes before a creamery lorry would arrive at our house (or drive past our house). The reaction was only to lorries from that creamery... no other lorries. A man from that creamery had once kicked him. So that points to a learned behaviour and avoidance of punishment/ negative consequence connected to incredibly good hearing or even smell! I would see the storm avoidance as similar.


    Wasn't there a documentary on the animal behaviour just before the tsunami? I can't remember the details.


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    #12
    trebor28
    Registered Users Posts: 1,051 ✭✭✭trebor28


    Cecelia Future Standout wrote: »
    Jeez! We're heading towards a deposition on the influences and vagiaries of migration.

    Length of day, temperature, etc etc.

    I get the impression you just don't like to accept any answer that doesn't fit with your own pre-conceived notions on a subject. ;)

    lake eyre is a lake that only appears in the right weather conditions.
    it usually only appears every few years but sometimes wont happen for 20 or more years.
    it is located in the middle of the outback in northern australia.

    yet animals and birds arrive on, and there is even fish in the lake.


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    #13
    Kess73
    Registered Users Posts: 25,560 ✭✭✭✭Kess73


    I would tend to agree with Srameem on this one. I do think that animals can react to coming changes in the weather, but I think we are talking only hours in advance or maybe a day or two at a push.

    I have seen garden birds change their behaviour before strong winds or storms that followed six to twelve hours later, with the same pattern in their behaviour being seen by me far too many times over the years for me to regard it as luck.

    Fish are another indicator, with pike often going on heavy feeding binges before a cold snap.

    But I have also seen things in nature that I regarded as being set in stone proven totally wrong thanks to various studies and other people's experiences, so who knows, maybe we will find out someday that certain animals can detect changes in the weather to a far greater degree than we know of right now.


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    #14
    trebor28
    Registered Users Posts: 1,051 ✭✭✭trebor28


    there has been some articles about the tsunami of 2004, as someone pointed out earlier, there was very few animals killed by it compared to the 300,000 or so humans.
    there was loads of reports of elephants in sri lanka acting out of character hours before the the tsunami hit.
    they broke their chains and escaped and ran a few miles inland.

    its not quite the same as what i was trying to get across in my original post but still i think it goes a long way in my argument.

    someone said about the birds going quite because it gets dark, well you can have a very overcast day with storms in it which might not make it a whole lot darker.


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    #15
    littlebug
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,832 ✭✭✭littlebug


    trebor28 wrote: »
    someone said about the birds going quite because it gets dark, well you can have a very overcast day with storms in it which might not make it a whole lot darker.

    The reason I mentioned that was because I remembered sitting by a lake in Waterford during the eclipse in 1999 and as it got darker the birds got quieter until there was a few minutes of complete silence at the height of the eclipse. Off topic I know- sorry.
    I would have thought that birds too would sense air pressure changes/ hear storms in the distance etc just like dogs/ cats so while I think they are acting differently it's still in response to whatever they are currently sensing rather than predicting.
    I suppose you could say that humans could learn to predict the weather according to the behaviour of the animals around them?


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    #16
    artieanna
    Users Awaiting Email Confirmation Posts: 1,139 ✭✭✭artieanna


    I agree also about the tsunami, the animals went beserk and headed for the hills.

    Animals senses are much more sensitive than humans, so I am sure there is a certain amount they can sense that we can't.

    I doubt very much that they can predict what the coming winter will bring or even what next week can bring.

    Alot of weather predictions in times gone by were made by animal/bird behaviour also by plants budding, flowering and fruiting times also the abundance of flowers and fruits. Some of these are fairly trustworthy and some are not.

    examples like swallows flying low = wet weather as the flies were near the ground also the opposite if they are high.
    whitethorns heavy covering of flowers = wet summer
    black snails out and about = heavy rain on the way
    when a storm is coming the sheep come down from the mountains

    there are others I can't think of...


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    #17
    trebor28
    Registered Users Posts: 1,051 ✭✭✭trebor28


    they also say that cows or cattle will lie down in a field before it rains so they will have a dry patch underneath them.
    im not quite sure is that
    a: they lie down when they feel the first drop of rain or
    b: they sense rain coming and lie down before it hits.


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    #18
    TO_ARTHUR!
    Registered Users Posts: 509 ✭✭✭TO_ARTHUR!


    This is only something I've noticed but it's especially true in tropical countries is that generally a few hours before theres due to to be thunder and/or lightening, slugs, snails and sometimes worms crawl out of the soil and onto a non-conductive surface, ie concrete or certain types of stone.


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    #19
    tricky D
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,700 ✭✭✭tricky D


    There is a phenomenon known as the 'smell of rain'. Could be due a load of different factors, some local. Could be changes in pressure, humidity, plant emissions (scents, spores, pollen....), electric charge, temperature or ozone, or various combinations of those.

    This page talks about the ozone: http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/aug98/897083302.Ch.r.html

    I heard somewhere that there's even places in India that bottle the smell of rain. Can't find any online ref.

    There's also Petrichor which is smell from rain on dry earth.


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