Elephants can hear through feet & easily sense upcoming earthquake

Do you know Elephants can hear through feet and easily sense upcoming earthquakes long before seismic activity occurs? Large ears of Elephants may appear to provide all of the hearing they require.

However, it turns out that giant mammals Elephants use their feet to hear. A study published in the journal, Current Biology, reveals Elephants can hear through their feet.

Elephants have huge, sensitive feet covered with complex networks of sensory cells and nerves. It enables them to hear through their feet. These sensory cells serve as natural seismic sensors.

An elephant receives seismic signals from the environment, such as upcoming storms, earthquakes, or distant thunder. The vibrations (sounds) of upcoming catastrophic events travel through the ground and elephant’s foot pads easily pick up these sounds.

Hence, elephants can figure out what these sounds mean by combining their senses in a complicated way. This allows them to know the direction of the source, distance, and possibly even the nature of catastrophic events.

This unique adaptation of elephants provides an early warning system for possible dangers or environmental changes. Ross MacPhee is a supervisor of the Secret World of Elephants at the American Museum of Natural History.

According to Ross, Elephants use their feet to detect low-frequency vibrations up to 20 miles away. When these vibrations pass through the ground near an elephant’s foot, they move through his body via bone conduction.

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One of the most fascinating facts of elephant seismic sensitivity is their capacity to detect upcoming earthquakes. Study reveals elephants show behavioral changes such as anxiousness or nervousness hours or even days before seismic activity (earthquake) occurs.

However, scientists are still investigating real systems of how elephants can pick up small changes in ground movements or electromagnetic fields. Electromagnetic fields are caused by earthquake stress and elephants respond to them accordingly.

This study shows that seismic techniques typically used for studying earthquakes are effective for monitoring elephant behavior. It may provide real-time information on elephant sensory skills and how they use them to act accordingly with accuracy.