These animals can predict volcanic eruptions, massive storms and more
For thousands of years, humans have taken cues from animals that seem to have a sixth sense when it comes to impending natural disasters and changes in weather.
Sicilian goat herders in the region surrounding the active volcano Mount Etna, for instance, have noticed behavioural changes in their goats prior to major volcanic eruptions for centuries.
"But the key is: Are [the animals] sensing it early enough that we can use this information to potentially also warn people?" asks Martin Wikelski, a behavioural biologist at Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour, in the documentary The Secret Knowledge of Animals.
Wikelski is the founder and director of the International Cooperation for Animal Research Using Space, or ICARUS, initiative: a collaborative effort to track wildlife around the world. He believes technology can enable animals to share their knowledge with humans.
Hundreds of thousands of solar-powered transmitter tags have been placed on animals across the globe, and the data about their movements and behaviour is teaching scientists about how animals respond to natural disasters, weather, poaching threats and more.
The Secret Knowledge of Animals shows some of these animal teachers in action.
Goats can predict volcanic eruptions
Wikelski wanted to test if there was any truth to the local lore about goats predicting volcanic eruptions at Mount Etna, so he began studying the goats' movements in 2011.
After monitoring the region's goats prior to eight major volcanic eruptions, Wikelski and his colleagues succeeded in measuring specific movements that can accurately predict a volcanic eruption — up to 14 hours in advance. Before any sign of volcanic activity, nearby animals flee their pastures higher up the volcano and head down toward the forest.
It is still not known exactly what senses the goats are using to predict these events, but Wikelski speculates that they may be able to smell certain gases like sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide, which are released prior to an eruption. Similar research could also be used to help predict earthquakes.
Migratory birds know how to avoid tsunamis and cyclones
The bristle-thighed curlew nests in the remote tundra of Alaska and migrates to islands in the central and south Pacific for the winter.
"A number of published scientific studies have shown that migratory birds are able to deviate from their migration route; they can change direction to avoid an oncoming hurricane," Frédéric Jiguet, an ornithologist at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, says in French in The Secret Knowledge of Animals.
"When the air currents get too strong, especially in cyclones, they land to avoid getting caught. So all this means that there's a certain amount of premonition around weather conditions that enables them to adapt. "
Jiguet and his colleagues at the Kivi Kuaka project believe that bristle-thighed curlews could help protect local human populations from extreme weather. They are recording the birds' movements using satellite telemetry, in conjunction with the ICARUS initiative, to develop an early warning system that may one day protect islanders from impending disasters, like tornadoes and tsunamis.
Bats leave clues about future viral outbreaks
Straw-coloured fruit bats, also known as eidolons, are the most numerous mammal in southern Africa, according to the documentary.
Considered the "gardeners of Africa," eidolons are important seed dispersers and pollinators of plants, and some have been observed to travel over 100 kilometres in a single night. Wikelski estimates that the eidolons in Zambia alone are responsible for planting approximately 80 million trees per night. "This is what keeps Africa green," he says in the film.
Wikelski and his team are tracking the movements of these mammals from space to better understand their essential role in the ecosystem of Africa, and how they might protect the near-threatened species from hunting and habitat destruction.
Tracking their migratory route and the antibodies they carry may also help scientists pinpoint geographic location of emerging diseases. "We can see where [the bats] went, and we can say, 'Well, all of the ebola antibodies are in bats that flew in the western part of Congo,' for example," says Wikelski.
Zebras, giraffes and other wildlife help prevent rhino poaching
Wikelski's tracking technology is also used in the ongoing war against poaching. According to The Secret Knowledge of Animals, 17,000 African elephants are illegally killed each year for their ivory. Meanwhile, about 1,000 rhinos are hunted for their horns.
In South Africa's Kruger National Park, the entire community of large mammals is tracked around the clock to monitor how animals respond to the presence of humans. Rhinos are tagged and tracked so rangers can find them at any time, as well as zebras, giraffes, impalas and wildebeest, since their natural flight response can signal the presence of poachers.
"Animals react differently to a lion or a poacher. The lion is local, [and] most of the time, it's not hunting. The poacher is coming in from somewhere, walking through an environment and is trying to find … a rhino," Wikelski says in the film. "We can, fairly easily, distinguish the reaction of animals towards a lion or towards a poacher."
As more and more animals grow restless, it signals a human intruder and triggers an alarm for park rangers.
Tracking helps protect whales in the Gulf of St. Lawrence
In Canada, scientists use tracking information to help protect the North Atlantic right whale in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It's one of the most endangered large whale species, with fewer than 360 individuals remaining.
Ocean warming is forcing them to spend more time in busy shipping and fishing zones, where they are increasingly coming into lethal contact with human activities. "There's three primary threats: ship strikes, entanglement in fishing gear and climate change," says Sarah Fortune, a marine biologist at Dalhousie University in Halifax, in the documentary.
Intense monitoring of this species is now required by law in Canada. Whales are tracked using acoustic technology alongside aerial and at-sea surveillance, and a zone of protection moves with the animals. Human activity must adjust to the whales' movements, not the other way around. This is the idea behind dynamic management — and it's only possible by tracking the individual animals.
Human activities are having a profound effect on our planet. Understanding the secret knowledge of animals may be critical not only to their survival, but our own as well.
Watch the documentary on CBC Gem and the Nature of Things YouTube channel.
Adam Wanderer is a writer and producer from Montreal, and is a member of the LGBTQIA2+ community. He has worked on numerous productions across Canada and has a love for all things natural history.
