The following is the news report on the animal behavior in a Zoo in Lucknow. The animals were huddled together during the eclipse and did not take food at that time.
It is easy to dismiss this as a reaction to sudden change in the heat and light. But yesterday's eclipse started at dawn and there is no way to attribute a reason to light as it was already cool and twilight-like. Such difference is noticeable in solar eclipses during midday but certainly not yesterday.
Animals are sensitive to something else in the environment that we are not aware of.
One behavior I have noticed is the regular coo of a lone bird everyday that I used to hear exactly at sunrise and sun set.
The exact sunrise and sunset are the agnihotra timings which I used to meticulously stick to for doing agnihotra. As though to tell me that the solar disc is rising or going down, the bird used to give a sound exactly at those times. I have not heard the sound at other times. In previous solar eclipses too, I have noticed the sound of it exactly at the time of beginning of the eclipse or at the moment the eclipse completely disappears. This time I heard the voice of this bird exactly at the time eclipse ended in my place.
I used to think that birds detect something at sunrise and sunset which is peculiar only to those times. It is because of this only Agnihotra is done exactly at those times. There is some change in radiation form the sun or there is something peculiar about sun rise and sunset. Even if the sky is overcast or raining, this change in radiation from the sun that happens at the moment its disc crosses up or crosses down does not fail to reach the earthlings. This has been noted in experiments on agnihotra where it is found out that the offer of rice in the agnihotra fire exactly at sunrise and sunset creates many oxides that strengthen the air and removes pollution.
A similar change in radiation must be occurring at the time of eclipse when the disc of the sun is hidden. This changed radiation is perhaps felt by the animals.
- jayasree
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From
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4809499.cms
Solar eclipse: Zoo inmates mistake morning darkness for dusk
LUCKNOW:
The humans might have excitedly watched the solar eclipse early Wednesday morning
but zoo inmates went into a quiet mood mistaking the morning darkness for dusk.
"We had planned in advance to study the impact of eclipse on behaviour
of inmates", said Renu Singh, zoo director.
The zoo workers watched the behavior of birds, smaller and bigger animals all through the hours of eclipse, from 5.30 till 7.30 in the morning. All of them were found huddled together in groups and birds stopped eating, especially during the 20 minutes when light was almost cut down.
While the lion king, Prince had retreated to its den thinking it's time to go to sleep, white tiger, Aryan, in a pre-sleep composure, had some cool moments inside the water pond inside its enclosure. The peahen with her chicks had taken shelter inside bushes and deer chose to stay together.
Birds and giant squirrels sat in their boxes and there were many others like Chimpanzees which went inactive and `mahok' birds that live in `bamboo bushes' who started making sounds that they make during evening hours.
There were quite a few inmates that behaved normally unaffected by the eclipse like monkeys, zebras, giraffes and rhino. "They all returned to their normal behavior when the eclipse ended," said the director.
