Can cats predict earthquakes?

The short answer is yes, they can, but we are still not sure how they do it. They may be sensitive to vibrations of the earth so minute that our instruments fail to detect them. It is known that there is a gradual build-up to earthquakes, rather than one sudden, massive tremor. It may be that cats have an advance warning system. A second possibility is that they are responsive to the dramatic increase in static electricity that apparently precedes earthquakes. In humans there is also a response to these changes, but it is rather vague and unspecific. We speak of tenseness or throbbing in the head on such occasions, but we cannot distinguish these feelings from times when we have had a stressful day at work or perhaps when we are coming down with a cold. So we cannot read the signs accurately. In all probability cats can. A third explanation sees cats as incredibly responsive to sudden shifts in the earth's magnetic field. Shifts of this type accompany earthquakes.

Perhaps all three reactions occur at once – detection of minute tremors, electrostatic activity and magnetic upheavals. One thing is certain, cats have repeatedly become intensely agitated just before major earthquakes have struck. Cat-owners recognizing their pets' fears may well owe them their lives. In many cases cats have been observed suddenly rushing about inside the house, desperate to escape.

Once the doors are opened for them they flee in panic from the buildings. Some females even rush back and forth carrying their kittens to safety. Then, a few hours later, the quake strikes and levels the buildings. This has been reported time and again from the most vulnerable earthquake areas and now serious research is under way to analyse precisely which signals the cats receive. Similar responses have been recorded when cats have predicted volcanic eruptions or severe electrical storms. Because of their exceptional sensitivity they have often been foolishly credited with supernatural powers. In medieval times this was frequently their undoing, and many cats met a horrible death by burning at the hands of superstitious Christians because they appeared to be possessed of 'unnatural knowledge'. The fact that we now know this knowledge to be wholly natural makes it no less marvellous.