Eclipses have long been associated with superstitions. Before the advent of astronomy and scientific revelations, eclipses were associated with supernatural powers and people would be terrified when one occurred, often attributing the strange behaviour of animals during an eclipse to possession by spirits. Now that we know better, it is interesting to note that animals genuinely do exhibit unusual behaviour during eclipses but there are no spirits at work.
We, humans, as the dominant species of the planet, have devised a measure of time, which is the clock. It tells us the time of the day. However, in the animal kingdom, they have no clock to tell them what time of the day it is and hence their structure of the day is the light-dark circle. This cycle dictates their habits, telling them when to eat, when to sleep, when to wake up, and go hunting among other things. However, both a solar and lunar eclipse is a deviation from this cycle which leaves these animals puzzled and confused about the reason for their uncommon behaviour.
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Solar eclipses may cause the biggest impact on animal behaviour of all cosmic occurrences. While nocturnal creatures believe they have overslept, perplexed daytime active animals return to their nightly homes. When the sun, moon, and earth are all on the same axis and the moon obscures the sun, this is known as a solar eclipse.
Steve Portgal’s report in Science Alert says that spider species become victims of breakdowns during eclipses. They start breaking their web. After the eclipse, they start to rebuild them once more, perhaps regretting the absence of a break in between. Similar to this, daytime creatures like fish and birds migrate to their nighttime roosts, and nocturnal bats emerge, fooled by the darkness that engulfs the sky.
Hippos in Zimbabwe were observed leaving rivers during an eclipse, heading towards their nocturnal feeding grounds on dry land. However, daylight returned before they could make it and they returned confused. The hippos exhibited signs of stress after the eclipse.
A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon comes in a straight line with the Sun while orbiting the Earth. Then the earth blocks the sunlight reaching the moon and the moon’s aura becomes red and the brightness starts to decrease. This is called a blood moon. Its effect is only felt during a full moon and hence it becomes difficult to deduce change in animal behaviour during lunar eclipses. However still, according to a 2010 study, owl monkeys in Azara ceased all activities during a lunar eclipse. They may have been unnerved by the sudden change in the colour of the moon and the dark effect.
