There is no denying that animals have a certain amount of perception that we don't understand. There are stories of pets who seem to know their owners have health problems before the doctor; others who warn of disasters like earthquakes and tornadoes. Then there are remarkable cases such as elephants breaking their holders chains and heading for the high ground just before the Indonesian tsunami brought its destruction ashore.
The debate begins when we ask just how these creatures are able accomplish such amazing feats. Is there a scientific explanation or perhaps a supernatural one?Recent studies have shown that humans are hard-wired to see a moment into the future. This is how we are able to catch a ball, blink our eyes to avoid an insect etc... It is possible certain animals have this same ability - heightened by the need to survive in the wild, much in the same way a blind person may develop a more keen sense of hearing.
Rupert Sheldrake, author of
Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home (Three Rivers Press, 1999), believes that animals have abilities that humans may have possessed at one time, but somehow lost. Through his extensive research, he has concluded that there are three major categories of unexplained perceptiveness by animals:
Telepathy - a psychic connection that some pets may have with their owners through connections Sheldrake calls "morphic fields." It is this ability that enables pets to "know" when their owners are on their way home. The Sense of Direction - this ability accounts for the "incredible journeys" some animals make to be with their owners, including homing pigeons. Premonitions - which may explain why some animals seem to know when earthquakes and other events are about to occur.There are actually people who make their living by claiming to have connections with animals. They work as psychic problem solvers sort of like Dog Whisperers of the mind. Are they truly forging a mental bond with pets or are they just taking advantage of an extensive knowledge of animal behavior and telling pet owners what they want to hear? Check out this wonderful How Stuff Works article -
How Pet Psychics Work
One of the most extraordinary examples of animal premonition may lie in the lost and found section of newspapers.
Jim Berkland, a California geologist, predicted the famous October 17, 1989 World Series Quake that struck the San Francisco Bay Area. How did he do it - by watching the tides and reading the classified ads. For reasons that we may never know, ads for missing pets increase dramatically just before an earthquake. Berkman says the tides tell him when and the animals tell him where. Whose to argue with a near eighty percent accuracy?
