GROUND ELECTRIC-FIELD EFFECTS ON RATS AND SPARROWS - SEISMIC ANOMALOUS ANIMAL BEHAVIORS (SAABS)

Electric field effects on behaviors of albino rats, Mongolian gerbils (sand rats), hair-footed Djungarian hamster, guinea pigs and red sparr ows (Avadavat) have been investigated in order to determine whether se ismic anomalous animal behaviors (SAABs) witnessed prior to a major ea rthquake are due to seismic electric signals (SES). Animals placed on a wet conductive floor initially showed grooming, nervous and field av oidance behaviors and finally ran and jumped in panic as the ground fi eld intensity was increased from 1 to 1000 V/m. An electromagnetic mod el of a fault, in which piezo-compensating bound charges appear as a r esult of sudden reduction of the piezoelectric polarization due to the release of seismic stress, gives sufficient field intensity to produc e a critical body current of a few mu A. It is considered that animals showed electrophysiological responses to seismic current.