Why do animals look weird in a solar eclipse? Scientists want to find out

During the big solar eclipse 2017, animals from a zoo surprised researchers at the institution. During the astronomical event, giraffes gathered together and began galloping, giant Galapagos tortoises began mating, and gorillas began preparing for bed.

Those strange behaviors were just some of the many anomalies that scientists noticed at the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, South Carolina. Researchers were able to notice these “oddities” during the solar event that took place in the United States, according to a 2020 report.

“Giraffes are kind of delicate, they don't run very much,” explained one of the study's authors, Adam Hartstone-Rose, a professor of biological sciences at the University of North Carolina in Raleigh. “When they run, it’s because they’re running away from a predator or something.”

“It was kind of amazing and impressive,” he said. Zookeepers at the Nashville Zoo in Grassmere also documented giraffes galloping during the brief moments in 2017 when the sky darkened in the middle of the day.

With the solar eclipse that takes place this Monday (08), researchers intend to complement the previous study in a different zoo. The chosen location is the area of ​​Mexico, the United States and Canada that the sun's shadow will touch for 3 or 4 minutes.

And anyone who is in a place where it is possible to see the eclipse can help scientists discover the mysteries of these strange behaviors. With so many people preparing to look up at the sky during this astronomical event, others may want to take a few minutes to observe the changes in their own backyard.

Hartstone-Rose is one of the leading researchers in the Solar Eclipse Safari (Solar Eclipse Safari, in free translation), a project that wants to collect people's observations along the range that will be affected by the event.

Discovering the secrets of animals during the solar eclipse

Hartstone-Rose plans to take a team of students and researchers to the Fort Worth Zoo, in Texas, which should be able to view the solar eclipse between 12:22 pm and 1:01 pm, with the total moment being able to occur for almost 2 minutes at 1:40 pm, according to NASA.

Researchers will study certain animals to identify whether they repeat the same strange behaviors. But members of the public can also help with research.

And non-scientists won't just be viewing the event from the zoo. The citizens' project calls for observations of all types of environments, including cities with pigeons and squirrels, mountains, farms and more.

“All kinds of things could happen,” Hartstone-Rose said. “We hope that even children who have their pet dogs in their homes will see this interesting behavior during the eclipse.”

The eclipse's coverage path will be visible in several states across the U.S., but even someone not directly in this area will be able to see a percentage of the Sun being covered by the Moon. Hartstone-Rose is interested in reports across North America to determine whether some animals responds to even a fraction of solar coverage.

“It's a project that anyone anywhere in the fully or partially affected area can contribute data to by using our protocols to help study and help us understand more broadly how animals behave during the eclipse,” he said.

But it's not the only way people can get involved in scientific research. You can also join the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Eclipse Soundscapes Project (NASA ). The agency will collect public observations of animal behavior as well as human reactions to the eclipse through written multisensory reports and sound recordings of the environment during the solar event.

Frequent solar eclipse events allow scientists rare opportunities to collect data on behavioral responses to this phenomenon, said Kelsey Perrett, communications coordinator for the Eclipse Soundscapes Project. The next solar eclipse visible in the United States will not occur until August 2044.

Why do animals react to the eclipse?

Reports about animals acting strangely during a solar eclipse have been around for hundreds of years, according to NASA, because the causes and effects of the behaviors are still not completely understood.

Researchers studied 17 species during the 2017 eclipse and found diverse behavioral responses to the eclipse in approximately 75% of the animals within the zoo they observed, with the majority performing nocturnal habits or adopting behaviors that demonstrate anxiety.

Hartstone-Rose believes there are two possible reasons why animals react to the eclipse. The first is that the animals are reacting to the natural decrease in light and temperature as the Sun disappears behind the Moon. Second, the animals may be reacting to the reaction of people in the zoo during the eclipse.

The Moon's interference with daylight caused by a total solar eclipse is likely to affect animals through what we know of as the circadian rhythm – the internal biological clock that tells a person or animal how to respond to the amount of light they are receiving, according to o Bryan Pijanowski, professor of natural resources and director of the Center for Global Soundscapes at Purdue University in Indiana. He was not involved in the 2020 study.

“Most animals respond in a way that's like, 'OK, time to sit down and rest and sleep…', and then the nocturnal animals are like, 'Oh, it's time to wake up and be active,'” he said.

A better understanding of how animals respond to the eclipse will inspire more research into how animals, particularly animals, are affected by light pollution, according to Pijanowski, who is also on the Soundscapes Project's science board.

How did animals behave during the last eclipses?

The most consolidated study on the subject is almost 100 years old, when a team of scientists led by William M. Wheeler collected almost 500 observations from the public. For example, people told researchers during the August 1932 eclipse that they noticed crickets making noise as if it were night and bees returning to their hives.

The study, published in March 1935, also includes observations of mammals, birds and cold-blooded vertebrates.

Scientists have made additional observations that the reactions of specific animals over the years to solar eclipse events, such as studies that baboons in captivity have increased grooming behaviors, brown pelicans that have roosted, colonial weaver spiders that have dismantled their webs, and certain amphibians starting to become more vocal.

Hartstone-Rose plans to have researchers stationed near giraffes to assess whether their galloping behavior happens again – and hopes others will be at zoos for the same.

Other groups of animals that will be monitored by scientists are reptiles – such as giant turtles to see if they become more active – as well as primates, such as baboons, which tend to have sexual intercourse during stressful situations.

Watch the eclipse at the zoo

Researchers will have to be aware of the limitations on public participation when it comes to observing animal behavior at the Fort Worth Zoo this year, according to Hartstone-Rose. But he expects there will be plenty of observations from people away from the crowds.

“It’s the nature of the beast. Eclipses are super exciting. We don't want to do anything that dampens people's excitement during the eclipse,” he said.

Zoo keepers will also be able to contribute data by observing animals within their range, according to John Griffioen, assistant director of conservation programs at the Fort Worth Zoo.

Animals that like to express themselves vocally typically communicate with others, such as elephants, flamingos and parrots – and it will be particularly interesting to observe them to identify whether the eclipse makes these animals more talkative or quieter.

In addition to this zoo, several other institutions have announced that they will have events open to the public so that people can watch the eclipse, including the Buffalo Zoo, in New York; Rock, Arkansas; Toledo, Ohio; and the Indianapolis Zoo.

How to help NASA in this research

The Eclipse Soundscapes project began in October last year with the annular eclipse, also known as the “ring of fire”. More than 800 people participated in the project, according to Perrett. The space agency is expecting a much larger number for the 2024 eclipse – around 2,500 people have already signed up, according to it.

Wheeler's 1935 study inspired the project, according to the website. NASA researchers are particularly interested in studying crickets and other noisy nocturnal insects to identify how they will behave.

The NASA project is open to volunteers. The only necessary factor is that people are close to animals or can have a good view of them, in addition to being able to hear them during the eclipse.

“If we have a handful of people who go out and experience the eclipse this way, we will consider it a success,” Perrett said in an email to CNN . “The more, the better. The more people who participate, the better we can answer our questions about how the solar eclipse impacts life on Earth.”

“[Durante um eclipse solar total] you have so many different ways that the light is spreading, so you have these beautiful variations of orange, purple and green… the wind speed slows down and becomes very, very calm. And everything happens for a very short time and at the same time,” Pijanowski said. “It's like it's a great human sensory experience to be in the middle of a total solar eclipse.