00:00So, if you see a rainbow, that means you're in for some good luck.
00:04But if you see a deep-sea fish, this means that something tragic is about to happen.
00:09Let's have a look at ancient lores and what they might mean IRL.
00:15In August 2020, people started out their day just like any other in California.
00:21It was sunny, so they decided to soak in the sun at the beach.
00:24They were snorkeling and kayaking when one of them spotted something out of the ordinary
00:29– a doomsday fish.
00:31The creature was 12 feet long.
00:33It's known as an oarfish, and only about 20 of them have washed up in California since
00:391901.
00:42Oarfishes live in obscure parts of the ocean, but why are they linked to doomsday?
00:50Japanese folklore says they are harbingers of disaster.
00:53These creatures were once thought to be sea serpents, and they are known as the messenger
00:58of the beautiful palace at the bottom of the ocean.
01:01The thing is, they only left the beautiful palace to warn humans about a disaster.
01:06That's why they're mainly known as bad omens.
01:09And when you see one, you can expect to see a tsunami or an earthquake right after.
01:14Even oceanographers confirm that this is a famous association.
01:20Now here's where it gets weird.
01:22The oarfish washed up near San Diego shores on the 10th of August.
01:26And then, on the 12th of August, a magnitude 4.4 earthquake hit Los Angeles.
01:32That's not the first time it happened.
01:34In 2011, in Japan, about 20 oarfishes were found stranded on the beaches and coastlines
01:40of Tohoku.
01:41Right after that, a magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami hit the city.
01:46Something similar happened in the Philippines.
01:48On February 8, 2017, an oarfish was seen.
01:52Two days later, a magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck the city and its nearby provinces.
01:58Sure, there is no way to prove both events are connected.
02:03The Seismological Society of America is adamant in saying that this is pure superstition.
02:09A recent study analyzed the coincidences and concluded that this association is statistically
02:14untrue.
02:18Can we say this happened literally out of the blue?
02:23Humans have historically noticed animals acting strange right before natural disasters.
02:27Earthquakes, floods, even tsunamis.
02:29It's like animals can sense something we can't.
02:32In fact, there's a lot of science to back it up.
02:36Studies show that animals can detect subtle environmental changes, like shifts in the
02:40Earth's electromagnetic field or infrasonic sounds, things humans wouldn't notice.
02:46This happens because most animals have a wider hearing range than humans and have extra-sensitive
02:51senses that help them detect gases emitted from the Earth.
02:55This theory got famous after the tragic tsunami that destroyed several cities and villages
03:00in Indonesia back in 2004.
03:03Most man-made warning systems shut down and didn't serve their role of warning humans
03:07about the disaster.
03:09Sensors were out of action due to maintenance, while other coastal areas simply didn't
03:14have any tsunami warning systems.
03:16Terrible timing, I know.
03:18Still, minutes and hours before the 30-foot wave hit the city, some animals sensed the
03:23danger and fled.
03:25Eyewitnesses say that elephants ran for higher ground, while flamingos abandoned their low
03:30nesting areas, and dogs refused to go outdoors.
03:34A local reported that he saw a herd of buffalo turning their ears toward the sea and then
03:39stampeded to the top of a hill.
03:41A lot of the people that survived the tsunami used animals as their warning systems.
03:47Now, this is not the first time humans have relied on animals to save their lives.
03:52The first official account of when it happened dates back to 373 BCE.
03:58I wasn't around then, but the Greek historian Euclides reports how the local population
04:04saw rats, weasels, and snakes running from the town before a massive earthquake hit.
04:11So what exactly is it that animals can sense that humans can't?
04:15To find that out, scientists put bio-logging tags on cows, sheep, and dogs living in Italy.
04:21For about half a year, they tracked the animals.
04:24During this time, official statistics recorded over 18,000 quakes in the region.
04:29The most shocking information was that animals began to change their behaviors up to 20 hours
04:35before an earthquake.
04:37Before an earthquake, something called positive holes happen.
04:40It's an electric charge that flows from the crust up to the surface of the Earth.
04:45It can change the air molecules above where they appear, and animals can pick up on them.
04:50There's also evidence that animals might sense changes in groundwater.
04:54Before earthquakes, distress and fault lines can release radon gas, which could alter the
05:00chemistry of groundwater.
05:02Animals that rely on it might detect these changes and react.
05:06Birds are also super-sensitive to shifts in the Earth's magnetic field, which can change
05:10just before a quake.
05:14Another research happened near Mount Etna.
05:17Located in Sicily, Italy, it's one of the most active volcanoes on the planet.
05:21In 2002, a massive eruption wiped out a ski lift, two hotels, and a series of shops located
05:28near Etna.
05:30So over the past years, a group of researchers decided to track goats living next to Etna.
05:35Their big aha moment came in 2012, when the goats started to act erratically 6 hours before
05:42Etna started to spew lava.
05:44These researchers were able to retrospectively predict around 7 disasters over the course
05:50of 2 years, all thanks to these goats.
05:54Back in 2014, a group of scientists studying golden-winged warblers in Tennessee noticed
05:59something odd.
06:01The birds had taken a detour from their customary breeding grounds.
06:05These little birds flew 435 miles from the Cumberland Mountains, where they had just
06:10arrived after flying over 3,000 miles from South America.
06:14Right after the birds left, a series of more than 80 tornadoes struck the area, causing
06:19over a billion dollars in damage.
06:22What these birds did is something scientists call an evacuation migration.
06:26They sensed the tornadoes coming from over 250 miles away.
06:33Infrasound is a big disaster giveaway.
06:36Storms and tornadoes make very strong infrasounds that can travel thousands of miles from the
06:41storm.
06:42Infrasounds are low-range frequencies, anything ranging below 20 Hz.
06:47With our normal set of human ears, we would never hear this.
06:51We have an average hearing that ranges from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz.
06:56That means you can hear something like a very, very low bass note, or as loud as the buzzing
07:00of a mosquito right next to your ear.
07:03An elephant's hearing range can reach below 20 Hz.
07:07This would make elephants expert at detecting disasters.
07:11Scientists also think that detecting infrasound is what helps birds dodge storms when they
07:16must cross the ocean.
07:17You see, the Pacific Ocean is known to not be at all passive.
07:22Although courageous humans venture to cross it, they're usually met with severe storms
07:26and conditions that their satellite instruments sometimes can't detect.
07:30Meanwhile, there's an ongoing project from France's National Museum of Natural History
07:35that is tracking more than 100 birds on their annual crossing over the Pacific.
07:40With the help of the International Space Station, they're trying to understand how
07:44these little creatures respond to natural hazards en route.
07:48But not everyone's convinced.
07:50Some scientists argue that while animals might be sensitive to environmental shifts, predicting
07:55disasters based on their behavior is too risky.
07:59The U.S. Geological Survey has pointed out that many reported cases of unusual animal
08:04behavior before disasters are anecdotal, meaning stories and reports, and large-scale studies
08:10have yet to prove a direct link.
08:12Although humans don't have the super-capabilities of predicting disasters, we have some things
08:17that might help us.
08:19Notice this.
08:20The next time you're in a place where lightning is going to hit, your hair will give a sign.
08:25If it stands on end, this means that lightning is aimed toward your beautiful person and
08:30is about to hit you.
08:31So run, find shelter, get inside a house.
08:35That's the best you can do in a situation like this.
08:39That's it for today.
08:40So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your
08:44friends.
08:45Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!
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