Animals and the Tsunami

Whereas the Asian Tsunami seemed to come without warning to us humans, there are reports that state that some animals had detected the trouble ahead.

The reason for this is that animals have developed their senses far more than we have and because of this, their awareness of what is happening around them is much greater than ours.

Elephants lay their trunks on the ground to determine from what direction the stimulus is coming. Canines' sense of smell is 10,000 to 100,000 times superior to that of humans, say scientists, and it is said that dogs can smell fear. Cats eyes' have a tremendously wide range of sight.

As the morning of the Tsunami approached, various people began to witness animals behaving in an unusual manner.

Elephants screamed, sometimes broke their constraints, and ran for higher ground. Flamingos abandoned their low-lying breeding areas. At the Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, hundreds of elephants, leopards, tigers, wild boar, deer, water buffalo, monkeys and smaller mammals and even reptiles escaped safely before the Tsunami hit.

Perhaps the greatest proof of this lies in the fact that rescue workers have found relatively few animal bodies during their rescue operations.

There are times when we, as humans, forget that we share this Earth with millions of varities of birds, animals, plants, fish, flowers and insects. Perhaps we can learn great lessons on survival from the greatest teacher of all, nature.

The devastating impact of the Asian Tsunami was heightened by the fact that it came without warning and did not give the victims an opportunity to escape to safety. On the other hand, many animals seemed to sense the danger and fled to safety, simply be relying on their senses and their instincts. In this age where our scientific knowledge and awareness is great, it is also just as important to trust our senses and the instincts that have developed and evolved throughout mankind's time on Earth.