Sophie the dog and the earthquake

Although no scientific evidence exists, for centuries people all over the world have insisted that their animals have felt earthquakes before humans did.

The following video is from security cameras on the second floor of the Times-Standard newspaper in Eureka, California as a 6.5 magnitude earthquake hit on January 9. The quake disrupted power throughout the region. Damage estimates are $14 million and counting.

As you can see, Sophie reacts to the earthquake before the humans do. And who could blame her for wanting to get out of such a messy room?

Theories on dogs and earthquakes

Comments

[Buoyant Dog]

That's really cool, Jan! I heard about another dog who also sensed that same earthquake before it happened. I don't doubt that they know it's coming.

[YesBiscuit!]

Neat.

[Dr. Liz]

No dummy Sophia!

[Chrissy]

That's amazing. I've heard of dogs being able to sense earthquakes. I truly believe in this. By the way, did I tell you that Chance got run over by a bus?? My poor doggy. Thought we would have lost him, but he has a crushed/broken pelvis and is on the mend.

[Lynne]

Wow she sensed it 5 secs before the humans did. Doesn't sound like much, but that's a long time.

[Pai]

The video was made private, so I can't see it. =(

[Khyra]

We know a lot of things before the hoomans....

[kasha]

How cool is that job to let you take your dog to work?

[rosemary]

Oh, yawn....Goldie our Lhasa Apso, would yelp a few seconds before a quake. I HATE earthquakes and they are the one thing I absolutely don't miss about California....I traded them in for snow and frigid temps.

[jackie]

wow animals are amazing

[BunGirl]

Is there anything dogs can't sense better than humans? I'm just sayin'...

[Denny]

When I read that there had been an earthquake in northern California I jumped up and immediately checked the map to see if you were safe. Whew.

[sling]

Doesn't surprise me..Haven't your dogs run to the front door several minutes before the spouse pulls in the driveway?
Animals are just tuned in to a different frequency.

[Becky]

Very impressive and good photos. I do believe animals are way ahead of us on disasters.

[Col]

Wow.. that is really quite something. Dogs.. they do seem to know.

[Dennis the Vizsla]

"To the Panic Room!"

[cube]

I don't think they sense them as much as hear them. There must be some sound when tectonic plates collide even if it occurs miles below the surface.

I couldn't get any sound, but it seems like the large fellow in black reacted before the others. Maybe a call for lunch? ;-)

[teetotaled]

My cat races around like that 24/7....guess she is sensing things all over the world! haha
That is amazing though...make a note to follow dogs to emergency exits!!

[Jennie/Kahshe Cottager]

How on earth did they manage to take that video just at that time I wonder? Sophie was sure off like a shot whatever sparked her to go!

[Jimmy]

Looks like she got a 5 second jump on it?

[Rebecca - thephillydog]

That is absolutely fascinating...thanks for sharing!

[buy]

Earthquakes will occur anywhere within the earth where there is sufficient stored elastic strain energy to drive fracture propagation along a fault plane. In the case of transform or convergent type plate boundaries, which form the largest fault surfaces on earth, they will move past each other smoothly and aseismically only if there are no irregularities or asperities along the boundary that increase the frictional resistance. Most boundaries do have such asperities and this leads to a form of stick-slip behaviour. Once the boundary has locked, continued relative motion between the plates leads to increasing stress and therefore, stored strain energy in the volume around the fault surface. This continues until the stress has risen sufficiently to break through the asperity, suddenly allowing sliding over the locked portion of the fault, releasing the stored energy.