National Zoo Shares Details of How Animals Reacted to East Coast Earthquake

Posted on August 24, 2011

The Smithsonian National Zoo shared an interesting list of how the zoo animals reacted to yesterday's 5.8 magnitude earthquake, which was centered in Virgina.

Some animals felt the quake before it hit:

About five to ten seconds before the quake, many of the apes, including Kyle (an orangutan) and Kojo (a Western lowland gorilla), abandoned their food and climbed to the top of the tree-like structure in the exhibit.
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 Zoo has a flock of 64 flamingos. Just before the quake, the birds rushed about and grouped themselves together. They remained huddled during the quake.

Some animals reacted during the earthquake:

All the snakes began writhing during the quake
Murphy, the Zoo’s Komodo dragon, sought shelter inside.
The ducks immediately jumped into the pool. The beavers stopped eating, stood on their hind legs and looked around, then got into the water, too.
The lion pride was outside. They all stood still and faced the building, which rattled during the quake.

Other animals reacted after the earthquake ended:

The howler monkeys sounded an alarm call just after the earthquake.
Immediately after the quake the female Eld's deer herd began alarm calling (a high staccato barking sound)

Some animals had no reaction:

According to keepers, the giant pandas did not appear to respond to the earthquake.

You can read the complete list of animal reactions here.

ANIMALS