How do animals react to a solar eclipse? (2024)

In the moments leading up to the solar eclipse recently seen across North America, animals were recorded displaying unusual behaviour.

Millions of people along a path starting in Mexico and then crossing through the United States and into Canada gathered to view the phenomenon.

The Moon completely blocked the Sun for more than four minutes in some places, but there was another spectacle at hand.

Giraffes and ostriches were frantically running around, while a flock of flamingos quickly huddled together.

It was as fascinating to some spectators as the astronomical event itself.

But what made these creatures big and small act oddly?

End of days

No, not in a biblical sense, but in the way animals rely on transitions between day and night — the switching from light to dark — to regulate their behaviour.

"There are times of the day when animals respond to light to begin or end their normal activity and then they will go into some sort of sleep-rest phase," explains Peter Murray, associate professor of Wildlife Management at UniSQ.

Light suddenly disappearing, like it does during a solar eclipse, disrupts this process, causing disorientation and unusual behaviour.

Animals have been known to adjust their behaviour to artificial light, too.

Seagulls, for example, have learned that where there is light, there are probably humans with food.

"So it's not surprising [during an eclipse] … that animals then go, 'hang on, we should still have another six hours of life or whatever and now it's dark'," Dr Murray says.

"That's going to cause some level of confusion, anxiety in an animal.

"[Its] biology would say, 'I'm hungry. I haven't had my day's feed yet … why has the sun disappeared? What's happening?'"

In short — many animals think the sudden darkness signals time for bed and start their nightly routine.

Danger danger…

Dr Murray says sudden darkness also brings an expectation of storm and heavy rain.

"There's probably also an association for a lot of animals that when it starts to get dark like that, in the daytime, bad are things probably going to happen to them," he says.

"That might be strong wind or rain, or both, or hail — all of those things which are not unnatural, but potentially regarded by animals as a serious cause for concern.

"And if you're an animal living in the natural world, presumably there's a fair bit of, let's call it hard wiring into their brain that says when that happens, and it's not dusk and it's not night coming, maybe we should go to a safe place."

The resulting fear and confusion could manifest in different ways, including the potential of sudden violence, Dr Murray says.

"They're expressing that frustration through aggression."

Any long lasting effects?

From a solar eclipse event, no.

The event itself is short enough that it may cause some confusion, and momentarily force the animals to rethink what they are doing, but they will quickly readjust.

Eclipses also don't occur regularly enough for animals, especially those with shorter lifetimes, to associate the events with trauma that could alter behaviour.

However, animal behaviour in general can be manipulated with the use of light over long periods of time.

By changing whatscientists call"photoperiod" — or in other words, the day-length — animals can be forced to do certain things.

Dr Murraysays "a lot of animals use that variation in photoperiod to time things like breeding" and that is sometimes controlled on an industrial scale by using light.

For example, in Australia there are a lot of autumn-breeding animals because it is linked to increasing night-length, he explains.

Animals are also inherently active at different times of the day. Nocturnal are active at night, diurnal are active during the day and a group called crepuscular animals are active at dusk and dawn.

Cats are meant to be nocturnal animals, but humans have altered that natural behaviour so that they would be active during the day when people are.

This is why they are sometimes they are very active at night, having had their sleep during the day when the owner is not home.

Dr Murray says this generally disrupts melatonin secretion, which makes part of the day-night regulation, and in the long run can cause serious health problems.

He suggests during the next day-time solar eclipse, bring your pets inside and turn the light on to save them any heartache.

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