In reply to Akira Kawasaki's message of Fri, 29 Dec 2006 12:47:06 -0800 (GMT-08:00): Hi, [snip] >3. EARTHQUACKS: SCIENTISTS IN CHINA OBSERVED BEHAVING STRANGELY. >On Tuesday, an earthquake that shook southern Taiwan damaged >undersea cables and disrupted communications across Asia. It's >not clear just what scientists at the earthquake bureau in nearby >Nanning in southern China saw, but two days AFTER the quake they >told The China Daily that snakes can sense a quake up to five >days before it happens. How do they know this? The reptiles >"behave erratically." To observe this behavior they installed >cameras at a local snake farm to monitor the snakes 24/7. The >director of the bureau said snakes can sense a quake up to five >days before it happens. "Of all the creatures on the earth," the >director said, "snakes are the most sensitive to earthquakes." >To test this claim I've started monitoring the erratic behavior >of Washingtonians from my office window. My initial assessment >is that there are far more earthquakes than anyone realizes. [snip] The entire body of a snake is in contact with the ground, and my guess is that they have developed extremely sensitive vibration detectors, in order to help them locate their prey. Not to mention sophisticated "software" to analyze the information, so it comes as no surprise to me that they would become "agitated" when the "prey" appears to be underground, and *very* large.
Regards, Robin van Spaandonk http://users.bigpond.net.au/rvanspaa/ Competition provides the motivation, Cooperation provides the means.
