What can we learn from the instincts of animals and why it matters now more than ever.

You may have felt it yourself: the moment your dog blocks the door, your cat disappears before a storm, or the birds fall silent. These aren’t just charming coincidences. A growing body of evidence suggests they might be subtle, reliable warnings from the living world. A kind of natural presentiment that, if heeded, can save lives.

This isn't folklore. From firemen waking seconds before the alarm to seizure-alert dogs predicting attacks before they occur, the data is quietly mounting. The mystery is not whether it happens, yet how we’ve ignored it for so long.

Frequently Asked Questions

🐕 Can animals really sense disasters before they happen?

Yes. Across continents and centuries, people have reported strange animal behaviour in the hours or days before natural disasters: earthquakes, tsunamis, avalanches. Dogs howling. Rats fleeing. Birds vanishing. In China, these observations were formalised into earthquake warning systems. They worked. Cities were evacuated. Lives were saved.

🧠 Isn’t this just instinct, not a kind of future-sensing?

Instinct plays a role, but instinct alone can’t account for animals responding to events that haven’t happened yet, like a fire alarm that hasn’t sounded or a bombing raid not yet in radar range. These behaviours often occur too early to be triggered by conventional stimuli.

😴 What about humans. Do we have this ability too?

We do. Ever woken seconds before your alarm clock? You’re not alone. Surveys suggest over 90% of people have. That’s not just routine—many report this even during jetlag or on unfamiliar schedules. Lab experiments show measurable physical responses, like skin conductivity, rising before an emotionally intense image appears on a screen. The body reacts before the event.

📉 Can this be trained and does it have real-world use?

Yes. Some of the most advanced applications may be in finance. Day traders working with second-by-second markets often describe “just knowing” when a screen will shift or a price will jump. One Greek-Cypriot trader described it like this: “I just feel drawn to the screen where there’s going to be movement.” These are not flukes. They’re professionals, paid by the millisecond, with their livelihoods on the line. Some are making millions.

🔬 But isn’t this unscientific?

Actually, it’s being studied. Just not widely. The mechanism isn’t yet known, but the effects are measurable, repeatable, and now testable outside of laboratories using wearables and open-source apps. One key idea is that the mind may not live in a thin, sharp slice of time. It may operate within an extended present a wave rather than a point.

Two Wartime Stories That Say It All

In Leipzig, during WWII, a parrot in a household would suddenly become agitated, lift its wing, and shout “Da oben! Da oben!” “Up there! Up there!” often two hours before air raids. The family knew to take cover.

In another case, an Austrian man tasked with defusing bombs noticed pigeons would flee rooftops up to thirty minutes before enemy planes arrived. The pattern was so consistent he began to warn others until the Gestapo arrested him, suspecting espionage.

Neither bird could read radar.

A New Role for Our Old Companions

The implications are both ancient and futuristic. In evolutionary terms, it makes sense. Animals, and by extension, us, who sensed danger moments ahead would be more likely to survive. And in modern terms, we now have the tools to test and apply this.

A seizure-alert dog isn’t performing magic. It’s picking up something we don’t yet understand. The same applies to that moment when your horse refuses to go through a gate, only for a tree branch to fall moments later.

The world is speaking. Our pets may simply be listening.

Explore the unseen instincts that protect us.
Whether you're a pet owner, parent, or pilot—this matters.
Stay curious, train your perception, and maybe start noting what your dog does just before a storm.

👉 Want to know more about how the natural world can sharpen your own intuition? Check out the FAQs above or sign up to our field guide to presentiment, where we share practical ways to observe, test, and apply this forgotten intelligence in daily life.