How will animals react to Quebec's total solar eclipse?
It鈥檚 possible animals 鈥 pets and wildlife alike 鈥 will behave unusually during Quebec鈥檚 total solar eclipse on April 8 , according to experts on their behaviour.
David Bird, emeritus professor of wildlife biology at 平特五不中, that birds, insects and bats are the main groups expected to be affected, or 鈥渢he main ones that everybody鈥檚 sort of keeping an eye on.鈥
Bird studied the effects of changing light cycles on birds for decades and said they, like a lot of wildlife, are 鈥済reatly affected by light-dark cycles.鈥
鈥淚n fact, it鈥檚 light-dark cycles that basically determine that birds are going to breed in the springtime and then migrate in the fall,鈥 he said, explaining they have receptors in their eyes and skin that detect changes in light.
鈥淛ust to give you an example of how powerful this is, a student of mine and I, many years ago, actually fooled some pairs of American kestrels into thinking that it was springtime right in the middle of winter in Montreal,鈥 Bird said. 鈥淲e got them breeding, we got them laying eggs and even hatching eggs out in the middle of winter in our facility because we fooled them by using artificial light and timing clocks.鈥
He predicts birds will be affected by the eclipse, but 鈥渜uite momentarily鈥 given the fact that totality 鈥 the time when near-complete darkness hits 鈥 will last for fewer than four minutes.
鈥淚f I鈥檓 a bird 鈥 and I鈥檓 feeding at a feeder in the backyard and suddenly it goes dark for 3陆 to four minutes, what I would probably do is say: 鈥極h my god, night鈥檚 coming on,鈥 and if you鈥檙e a daytime bird, you鈥檙e going to definitely go where there鈥檚 some cover so that you don鈥檛 get nailed by a predator,鈥 Bird said.
He explained a lot of birds make noise just before going to sleep at night and when they wake up in the morning, so during the eclipse, 鈥渢here鈥檚 going to be a momentary thing like that.鈥
鈥淏ut it鈥檚 not going to last very long,鈥 Bird said.
Bird suspects nocturnal animals won鈥檛 be affected by the eclipse because totality won鈥檛 last long enough for them to think it鈥檚 nighttime.
鈥淏ased on anecdotal observations from the 2017 eclipse, bears in zoos, for example, just simply opened their eyes up a little bit and yawned and kept on sleeping,鈥 he said. 鈥淓ven owls, for example 鈥 it鈥檚 possible that if they鈥檙e not in a deep sleep, they鈥檙e going to look and say: 鈥極h my god, it鈥檚 getting dark, it鈥檚 time to go hunting.鈥 But they don鈥檛 suddenly, like a light switch 鈥 fly off somewhere to go look for mice or whatever. They usually sit there for a while 鈥 and then the next thing you know it鈥檚 getting light again, so they鈥檒l just go back to sleep.鈥