367K views · Jul 11, 2018 · 0:45 · 1 HN recommender · 3 mentions · discussed 2019–2024
A one-minute clip from a cat cafe in Japan where sleeping cats wake and look around just before an earthquake begins shaking the room.
Why Hacker News points people here: Commenters use it in earthquake threads as an anecdote that animals may sense tremors seconds before humans, and occasionally as a joke about cat alarms.
“you can clearly see the cats get alerted to something ~10 seconds before the shaking starts”HN comment, 2024
“you can clearly see the cats get alerted to something ~10 seconds before the shaking starts”
Cats visibly alerted about ten seconds before the shaking.
Speaking of cats and earthquakes, I just watched: this video ...again. This is a Cat Cafe in Japan, and you can clearly see the cats get alerted to something ~10 seconds before the shaking starts. Do we have an idea of what they are reacting to?
“Here's a video of a bunch of cats in a cat cafe in Japan whose sleep is interrupted by an earthquake.”
Cats wake and look around seconds before shaking starts.
Cats can probably feel or hear the p waves, which humans usually do not notice, and which travel faster than the more noticeable (to humans) s waves. Here's a video of a bunch of cats in a cat cafe in Japan whose sleep is interrupted by an earthquake. They all wake up and start looking around about 9 seconds before the shaking starts, probably due to sensing the p wave. this video
“Also, cat alarms”
For fixed locations, there are cheap P-wave detection earthquake alarms based on mechanical pendulums that will give seconds of warning. Example: link Also, cat alarms: this video
