What has four legs, warts and the ability to sense earthquakes days before they occur? The TOAD! A recent study has shown that a population of common European toads, Bufo bufo, may be able to sense seismic activity days before an earthquake occurs. A breeding study in 2009 in L' Aquila, Italy, by the United Kingdom's The Open University researcher Rachel Grant observed a sharp decline in toad population five days before a 6.3-magnitude earthquake occurred 74 kilometers away. The breeding toads left the area three days before the earthquake, only to return five days after the post-aftershock to resume breeding. No mechanism for the toads' detection has been confirmed, however, although Grant has postulated this detection is the result of an increase in the atmosphere's radon gas levels emitted from the soil because of pressure buildup preceding an earthquake. She also surmised that breeding toads fled because of detection of slight tremors before the earthquake undetected by humans. Other hypotheses include a toad's ability to detect very low frequency radio sounds. The findings do not go without criticism, however, as sciences such as seismologist Roger Musson attribute the phenomenon to coincidence rather than a scientific breakthrough.
-compiled by Aradhya Nigam
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