Do animals have any unexplained powers we are unaware of? for many years pet owners and scientists have reported examples of unusual behaviour in animals. they say that pets can anticipate their owners leaving for trips or returning home. these animals somehow know when they are going to be fed or taken for a walk. does this mean anything or is it just a coincidence? maybe it has nothing to do with psychic powers, maybe pets just understand enought language to get the message? surprisingly, little research has been done on these phenomena. however, naturalists have carried out some experiments to investigate such behaviour. the evidence suggests that pets seem to react to their owners' thoughts and intentions but the mechanism of such communication remains unknown. another thing scientists are unable to explain is animals' sense of direction. how can pigeons find their way back home over hundreds of miles in unfamiliar places? the research into animal navigation has not helped to solve this mystery. in some experiments pigeons were taken away from home in closed vans to check whether they could remember their way. they were still able to find their way home easily. they could navigate on cloudy days and even at night which means they don't use the sun. and they couldn't smell their home because they were miles away from it. it's quit remarkable to think that many animals escaped the great asian tsunami in 2004. elephants in sri lanka moved to high ground before the giant waves struck. some dog owners were surprised by the fact that their pets refused to go to the beach for a walk on the day of the tsunami. some local tribes on the islands were warned by the behaviour of the animals and moved away from the coast before the disaster. but how did the animals know? they also seem to know about other disasters. domestic animals often behave in an anxious or unusual way several hours before earthquakes strike. similar behaviour occurs before avalanches or even explosions. the ability of animals to anticipate disasters could be of great help to people. in china, for example, the authorities encourage people to report unusual animals' behaviour and it has enabled cities to be evacuated before earthquakes, saving lots of lives. do we have any unexplained powers? have you ever felt like someone was staring at you while you had your back turned to them? have you ever felt like you knew what someone was going to say before they said it or even that you were familiar with a place that ypu knew you had never been to before? these may all be indications of the powers which we might have lost just because we no longer need them: telephones and television have replaced the feelings, maps and global positioning systems have replaced the sense of direction. but still we have much to learn from animals about their nature, and about our own.
