Sorry, Animals Aren't Pre-emptively Fleeing the Yellowstone Supervolcano
Photo by ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images
Last weekend there was a 4.8 magnitude earthquake in Yellowstone—the
biggest earthquake in the park since 1980. However, it did not cause
charismatic megafauna to flee en masse or generally run for their lives.
Viral videos showing some bison apparently making a hasty retreat are, as in so many cases, misleading.
First of all, it's a myth
that animals have a Spidey sense for oncoming earthquakes. There is
evidence that seconds before an earthquake, animals begin feeling a type
of wave that humans can't, and they may begin to react. But beyond
that, it doesn't seem like animals have any type of day's notice.
Second of all, even if they did, there is no evidence that they would
know the optimal way to react (such as running away from the epicenter
of the earthquake).
According to a video released by Yellowstone (below) the bison take
the paved roads around Yellowstone to look for food toward the end of
long winters—like this year's. "It was a spring-like day and they were
frisky. Contrary to online reports, it's a natural occurrence and not
the end of the world," a park spokesperson told Reuters.
And the idea that the animals know something we don't about the
supervolcano under Yellowstone just isn't true, according to
Yellowstone's statements and other scientists.
Al Nash, the public affairs chief at Yellowstone, says in the video,
"There were no injuries [from the earthquake], there was no damage ...
it's just part of the geologic situation that we find here in
Yellowstone. We get some pretty wild rumors out there."
Stop trying to make earthquake-sensing animals a thing, Internet.
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