More reactions to the East Coast Earthquake

Under another entry some people have shared their experiences of the East Coast Earthquake yesterday.  Another set of reactions is provided by the website of the National Zoo, here.

I especially liked these:

  • About three seconds before the quake, Mandara (a gorilla) let out a shriek and collected her baby, Kibibi, and moved to the top of the tree structure as well.
  • The red-ruffed lemurs sounded an alarm call about 15 minutes before the quake and then again just after it occurred.
  • The black and rufous giant elephant-shrew hid in his habitat and refused to come out for afternoon feeding.
  • According to keepers, the giant pandas did not appear to respond to the earthquake.

I think this means that cities, heck – individuals! – along faults should probably start keeping red-ruffed lemurs around.

Pandas … not so much.

And everyone should keep some black and rufous giant elephant-shrews around just for the comic relief factor.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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10 Comments

  1. acroat says:

    When we had sheep, they used to lie down and not stand up until the earthquake stopped shaking. Think I’ll stick to sheep instead of zoo animals!

  2. wanda says:

    We have 2 cats, got no warning from either. But when hubby and I hurried to an interior part of the house, the cats jetted past us in the opposite direction. Strangely, they went to the upper floor of the house. They were very subued the rest of the day and stayed pretty much out of sight. I’m sure my face had the same expression as the animal in the top picture. It was a scary thing to me, here in MD.

  3. pfreddys says:

    I was sitting at my desk and I was convinced I was on the brink of having a seizure, or stroke; fortunately someone in my office said why is everything shaking?
    Awww…..the black and rufous giant elephant-shrew is cute! I want one!!!

  4. Supertradmum says:

    We endured a serious earthquake in Alaska years ago. My two cats were terrified. The walls of our apartment moved in one direction and the floor in another. We grabbed the cats and stood in the door-frame, which was somewhat stable. I am not sure where my cats were going, but they ran in opposite directions! The lemur is so cute…as to the Easterners, they haven’t seen “nuthun” yet.

  5. Sandy says:

    Living in California we are treated to earthquakes often. The animal kingdom reaction is no surprise to me. Years ago when we had our beautiful little parrot, he jumped from his perch in the middle of the night and ran into the hall squawking seconds before an earthquake. There is some amazing sense that animals have.

  6. DrTenochtitlan says:

    Same guy here who commented about handling the Bengal Tiger cubs a couple weeks ago. Just letting you know I’ve got the Red Ruffed Lemurs covered as well. :)

  7. Bryan Boyle says:

    On the other hand, when all the DC-based government workers were evacuated from their cubbies and were standing around in the streets of the Capital, the US economy experienced a short recovery, which ended as soon as they returned to their desks.

  8. gloriainexcelsis says:

    Some wag send me an email that the earthquake was caused by our founding fathers turning over in their graves. I might add that Washington is so upset that he punched his monument.

    [That’s odd. Someone sent me a note saying that it was caused by a shift in what is called “Bush’s Fault” which by coincidence runs directly under the White House.]

  9. Kerry says:

    As natural disasters, a.k.a. acts of God, tend to drive us to our knees, among the hundreds of thousands of American who felt the tremors, from how many were their first words, “Oh my God!”?

    A widespread, spontaneous “Say the Black”?

  10. NoraLee9 says:

    Here in fabulous NYC, I had laid down for a nap. I was awakened by my bedroom door moving back and forth. I keep one of my daughter’s elementary school medals on the door knob and it was clanging vociferously. When the bed started to move back and forth like Linda Blair’s in the Exorcist, I said to the cat (who was keeping me company on the end of the bed) “We have to get Father Boyd down here to bless the house already…..

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