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How do animals react during a total solar eclipse? Scientists plan to find out in April

Researchers say that many animals display behaviors connected with an early dusk.
A flamingo tugs at one of its feathers at the Fort Worth Zoo in Fort Worth, Texas
A flamingo tugs at one of its feathers at the Fort Worth Zoo in Fort Worth, Texas(Photo | AP)
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(Photo | AP)

When a total solar eclipse transforms day into night, will tortoises start acting romantic? Will giraffes gallop? Will apes sing odd notes?

(Photo | AP)

Researchers will be standing by to observe how animals’ routines at the Fort Worth Zoo in Texas are disrupted when skies dim on April 8. They previously detected other strange animal behaviors in 2017 at a South Carolina zoo that was in the path of total darkness.

A gorilla family is observed by people visiting the Fort Worth Zoo in Fort Worth, Texas.
A gorilla family is observed by people visiting the Fort Worth Zoo in Fort Worth, Texas.(Photo | AP)

“To our astonishment, most of the animals did surprising things,” said Adam Hartstone-Rose, a North Carolina State University researcher who led the observations published in the journal Animals.

A lioness and cub move in their enclosure at the Fort Worth Zoo in Fort Worth, Texas.
A lioness and cub move in their enclosure at the Fort Worth Zoo in Fort Worth, Texas.(Photo | AP)

While there are many individual sightings of critters behaving bizarrely, only in recent years have scientists started to rigorously study the altered behaviors of wild, domestic and zoo animals during eclipses.

People look at a display of giraffes and other animals at the Fort Worth Zoo in Fort Worth, Texas.
People look at a display of giraffes and other animals at the Fort Worth Zoo in Fort Worth, Texas.(Photo | AP)

Seven years ago, Galapagos tortoises at the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, South Carolina, “that generally do absolutely nothing all day … during the peak of the eclipse, they all started breeding,” said Hartstone-Rose. The cause of the behavior is still unclear.

Primates sit in the sun at the Fort Worth Zoo in Fort Worth, Texas.
Primates sit in the sun at the Fort Worth Zoo in Fort Worth, Texas.(Photo | AP)

A mated pair of Siamangs, gibbons that usually call to each other in the morning, sang unusual tunes during the afternoon eclipse. A few male giraffes began to gallop in “apparent anxiety.” The flamingos huddled around their juveniles.

A lion sits in its enclosure at the Fort Worth Zoo in Fort Worth, Texas.
A lion sits in its enclosure at the Fort Worth Zoo in Fort Worth, Texas.(Photo | AP)
A mandrill sits in its enclosure at the Fort Worth Zoo in Fort Worth, Texas.
A mandrill sits in its enclosure at the Fort Worth Zoo in Fort Worth, Texas.(Photo | AP)
An orangutan sits in the shade at the Fort Worth Zoo in Fort Worth, Texas.
An orangutan sits in the shade at the Fort Worth Zoo in Fort Worth, Texas.(Photo | AP)
Claire Wagner, 3, feeds a giraffe at the Fort Worth Zoo in Fort Worth, Texas.
Claire Wagner, 3, feeds a giraffe at the Fort Worth Zoo in Fort Worth, Texas.(Photo | AP)

During the last total solar eclipse in 2017, male giraffes at a South Carolina zoo began to gallop. Researchers will be watching to see if the giraffes in Fort Worth show similar behavior during April's total eclipse.

Animal behaviour
total solar eclipse
Solar eclipse 2024
Fot Worth Zoo

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