
Animal behavior during a solar eclipse - everbody
https://readwildness.com/23/poli-eclipse
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aketchum
I drove 2 hours to get into the path of totality for the 2017 eclipse. I just
want to reiterate to anyone with a similar opportunity how worthwhile it is to
make the trek to be in the path of totality. I had many friends that figured
they would just watch from home because "it is going to be 98% eclipsed here".
Let me dispel that logic. Anything less than total eclipse is basically
unnoticeable, while the total eclipse is achingly beautiful and unique.

As to the article, I noticed many of the strange animal behaviors. Night time
bugs came out and birds took to the skies in a hurry. It was quite the
experience.

~~~
vlunkr
I was there because I just happen to have relatives who lived right in the
path, but I was totally blown away. I wish I could convey the experience to
people who weren't there. It was interesting as it approached, but once it
reached totality it was pretty shocking. It felt a bit like the end of the
world. All of the sudden it's dark outside, but not quite the same darkness as
night. There's a sunset on the horizon in every direction. Bats are randomly
flying around. And in the sky there's this celestial body you've never seen.
It's not like the sun and not like the moon. And while your brain is still
reeling and people are still gasping and yelling and pointing everything out,
it's over.

Anyways, 10/10 would recommend.

~~~
jyrkesh
I have to +1. Got somewhat dragged to totality by my girlfriend at the time
with a bunch of her friends. It wasn't my prime idea of a long weekend but she
and her friends were insanely excited, and she was always very supportive of
me, so I went along with minimal grumbling (including when we woke up at 4:30a
that morning to go from our campgrounds to an open lake area to make sure we
got a good spot).

Any ounce of annoyance I might have been harboring evaporated when the eclipse
went from 99% to 100%. It was insane how incredible of an experience it was,
and so suddenly. To feel this intense connection to other people who had seen
it, or are seeing it...people were screaming and whooping, it was just
incredible.

I had driven a full car to the totality zone ~3 hours. I wasn't even mad that
the drive home took 7 hours instead. I just had a big grin on my face, it was
so worth it.

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scop
An eclipse is such an amazing phenomenon. The last time it happened I had my
mind blown by a simple realization:

There is no physical reason why the moon fits precisely within the diameter of
the sun.

It just so happens that on our little planet with sentient life, in which
human life is present for only an incredibly small window, the time in which
we are present and looking to the skies is when the diameter and distances of
the sun and moon align so perfectly as to fit one within the other.

~~~
saas_sam
This is a true mind-blowing fact. The ratio of the distances between Earth-Sun
and Earth-Moon is close to the ratio of the sizes between Sun & Moon. So the
Moon & Sun look to be the same apparent size from the perspective of
Earthlings... When I last read about this, we hadn't identified any other
moons for which this holds true.

It turns out our moon has many seemingly strange properties. It's big but not
very dense. Still a bit of a mystery how it formed, too. There are leading
theories (ex. Mars-sized planet ramming into a young Earth) but not considered
settled science just yet IIRC.

~~~
soulofmischief
We have no idea how lucky we are and we're destroying our planet and the life
within. There are probably so many things about our situation which we take
for granted, many things with infinitesimally small chances of occurring even
within just systems harboring sentient life.

The number of systems which reach our intellectual capacity must all have
certain aspects which make them completely unique, a rare feat in such a large
and repetitive universe.

------
dkarp
_We wouldn’t get to see the total eclipse—that dramatic upheaval of the
afternoon’s forward march, an ebb when there should be flow._

I thought this would be about animal behaviour during a solar eclipse, as
that's the title. It is actually written by a poet and so is more style than
substance

~~~
xattt
There were a lot of allusions to food. I assume the writer was hungry when
they wrote the piece.

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JackFr
Liked it better when Annie Dillard wrote it
[https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/08/annie-
di...](https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/08/annie-dillards-
total-eclipse/536148/)

------
at_a_remove
I went to great trouble to be in the path of totality in a completely isolated
area with no other people probably within ten miles. Yes, the animals did
behave strangely. The various calls seemed, and I'm searching for the right
word, somewhere between hesitant and curious. Tentative, perhaps. The tone of
the remaining light is ... odd. It wasn't quite twilight light, and I think
that part right there is a little confusing for animals.

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resolaibohp
I was able to witness the 2017 eclipse under the path of totality and can
confirm that animals really did act strange.

Minutes before totality started, a black bear walked casually within 10 feet
of me. I remember thinking that my viewing experience was going to be ruined
because some bear was going to attack me. It ended up just looking at me and
strolling casually along. Very strange indeed.

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glaugh
Especially if you've witnessed the absolutely extraordinary beauty of a total
eclipse, imagine living in ancient times, believing in active and utilitarian
gods, and witnessing a total solar eclipse during a battle

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Eclipse](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Eclipse)

This may or may not have actually happened, but I'm not sure that changes the
fun of thinking through what that would feel like. At the very least, it would
have been the case that many folks witnessed an extraordinary event that their
friend, a few miles away and outside the path of totality, would not have
seen.

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subsubzero
I was in the totality back in 2017 in Oregon. It was incredible. The darkness
in the sky was not like midnight, but more like dusk/twilight where the sun
has been behind the horizon for 30 minutes. In terms of nature, I was in a
very rural area when it happened(near Madras OR) and all animal sounds stopped
completely, my Daughter who was two, got really sleepy and fell asleep in her
chair during the totality which was very strange. But the experience I will
never forget is how the sun looked when in totality, white flames from the
corona licking out past the moons profile, clearly visible to the unaided eye,
it was something I will never forget for the rest of my life.

------
Sniffnoy
> In the 2017 eclipse, changes in light intensity were attributed to bees
> going temporarily still.

This sentence is backwards...

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akshayB
I have noticed cows just not being happy about solar eclipse. They go crazy
mooing around, stick together and are probably scared.

