Current:Home > ScamsWhen an eclipse hides the sun, what do animals do? Scientists plan to watch in April -TradeWisdom
When an eclipse hides the sun, what do animals do? Scientists plan to watch in April
View
Date:2025-04-17 20:00:53
When a total solar eclipse transforms day into night, will tortoises start acting romantic? Will giraffes gallop? Will apes sing odd notes?
Researchers will be standing by to observe how animals' routines at the Fort Worth Zoo in Texas are disrupted when skies dim on April 8. They previously detected other strange animal behaviors in 2017 at a South Carolina zoo that was in the path of total darkness.
"To our astonishment, most of the animals did surprising things," said Adam Hartstone-Rose, a North Carolina State University researcher who led the observations published in the journal Animals.
While there are many individual sightings of critters behaving bizarrely during historic eclipses, only in recent years have scientists started to rigorously study the altered behaviors of wild, domestic and zoo animals.
Seven years ago, Galapagos tortoises at the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, South Carolina, "that generally do absolutely nothing all day … during the peak of the eclipse, they all started breeding," said Hartstone-Rose. The cause of the behavior is still unclear.
A mated pair of Siamangs, gibbons that usually call to each other in the morning, sang unusual tunes during the afternoon eclipse. A few male giraffes began to gallop in "apparent anxiety." The flamingos huddled around their juveniles.
Researchers say that many animals display behaviors connected with an early dusk.
In April, Hartstone-Rose's team plans to study similar species in Texas to see if the behaviors they witnessed before in South Carolina point to larger patterns.
Several other zoos along the path are also inviting visitors to help track animals, including zoos in Little Rock, Arkansas; Toledo, Ohio; and Indianapolis.
This year's full solar eclipse in North America crisscrosses a different route than in 2017 and occurs in a different season, giving researchers and citizen scientists opportunities to observe new habits.
"It's really high stakes. We have a really short period to observe them and we can't repeat the experiment," said Jennifer Tsuruda, a University of Tennessee entomologist who observed honeybee colonies during the 2017 eclipse.
The honeybees that Tsuruda studied decreased foraging during the eclipse, as they usually would at night, except for those from the hungriest hives.
"During a solar eclipse, there's a conflict between their internal rhythms and external environment," said University of Alberta's Olav Rueppell, adding that bees rely on polarized light from the sun to navigate.
Nate Bickford, an animal researcher at Oregon Institute of Technology, said that "solar eclipses actually mimic short, fast-moving storms," when skies darken and many animals take shelter.
After the 2017 eclipse, he analyzed data from tracking devices previously placed on wild species to study habitat use. Flying bald eagles change the speed and direction they're moving during an eclipse, he said. So do feral horses, "probably taking cover, responding to the possibility of a storm out on the open plains."
The last full U.S. solar eclipse to span coast to coast happened in late summer, in August. The upcoming eclipse in April gives researchers an opportunity to ask new questions including about potential impacts on spring migration.
Most songbird species migrate at night. "When there are night-like conditions during the eclipse, will birds think it's time to migrate and take flight?" said Andrew Farnsworth of Cornell University.
His team plans to test this by analyzing weather radar data – which also detects the presence of flying birds, bats and insects – to see if more birds take wing during the eclipse.
As for indoor pets, they may react as much to what their owners are doing – whether they're excited or nonchalant about the eclipse – as to any changes in the sky, said University of Arkansas animal researcher Raffaela Lesch.
"Dogs and cats pay a lot of attention to us, in addition to their internal clocks," she said.
- In:
- South Carolina
- Texas
- Science
veryGood! (76)
Related
- Brianna LaPaglia Reveals The Meaning Behind Her "Chickenfry" Nickname
- FedEx driver who dumped $40,000 worth of packages before holidays order to pay $805 for theft
- Missouri Republicans are split over changes to state Senate districts
- Taylor Swift's Travis Kelce-themed jewelry is surprisingly affordable. Here's where to buy
- Why members of two of EPA's influential science advisory committees were let go
- Keller Williams agrees to pay $70 million to settle real estate agent commission lawsuits nationwide
- Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin apologizes for keeping hospitalization secret
- Here’s What’s Coming to Netflix in February 2024
- 'Most Whopper
- US founder of Haiti orphanage who is accused of sexual abuse will remain behind bars for now
Ranking
- Former Syrian official arrested in California who oversaw prison charged with torture
- Reports: Commanders name former Cowboys defensive coordinator, Dan Quinn, new head coach
- The 'Harvard of Christian schools' slams Fox News op/ed calling the college 'woke'
- We’re Confident You’ll Want to See Justin and Hailey Bieber’s PDA Photo
- Most popular books of the week: See what topped USA TODAY's bestselling books list
- USWNT captain Lindsey Horan says most American fans 'aren't smart' about soccer
- Walmart stores to be remodeled in almost every state; 150 new locations coming in next 5 years
- Utah Legislature Takes Aim at Rights of Nature Movement
Recommendation
Who are the most valuable sports franchises? Forbes releases new list of top 50 teams
Russia and Ukraine exchange hundreds of prisoners of war just a week after deadly plane crash
Ex-Alabama baseball coach Brad Bohannon gets 15-year, show-cause penalty after gambling scandal
Mike Martin, record-setting Florida State baseball coach, dies after fight with dementia
The company planning a successor to Concorde makes its first supersonic test
Small plane crashes in Pennsylvania neighborhood. It’s not clear if there are any injuries
Meta posts sharp profit, revenue increase in Q4 thanks to cost cuts and advertising rebound
'Blindspot' podcast offers a roadmap of social inequities during the AIDS crisis