Cats in a Cat Cafe in Japan Reacting to an Earthquake - 994393
Why Hacker News recommends it
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.
What it is
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.
Recommended by 1 HN commenters across 1 different months, 2019 to 2024.
What Hacker News said
Recommends floxy · 2024-04 · on “M 4.8 – 2024 Whitehouse Station, New Jersey Earthquake”
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?
Cites tzs · 2019-07 · on “Strongest earthquake in years rattles Southern California”
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]