Hey El Reg

The toads hopped it, surely?

Shouldn't be surprised. Animals knows things, you know.

Foul bachelor frog

was too busy fapping

/mines the one with the book of chan

Toads Are Grounded...

...having a large contact area. This would make them sensitive to any electrical disturbance.

Humans dance in the temple position (hands together, elbows spread) because this forms an antenna that connects them to the Universe. It is interesting to note that dancing did not originate with Humans, but rather with vertibrates, even fish dance for each other, but probably to exhibit good genetics, rather than to attain attachment to God.

Heading to the refregeration device for more aluminum clad (211) grain product.

Interesting escape strategies and Humans...

@"toads escaped to higher ground"

Escaping to higher ground does seem to be a common strategy. Shame it doesn't always work. Still it seems to work better for a lot of creatures more than us humans, who so often stand around and stare and think hmmm... thats interesting, meanwhile all around us the other creatures are running like crazy for the hills. But still I do wonder how many critters in history have thought the high ground is safe, only to find out too late the earth is moving because the hill they are climbing isn't a hill but an active volcano about to explode. :)

It does seem that Natural Selection includes a lesson in irony. :)

Bad science...

This is really quite bad science - one event, one colony and they conclude Frogs (or i'll be generous and assume they only claimed this particular type of frog) is a good earthquake detection device.

How about the millions of other possibilities - an outbreak of pollution or algae in the lake, disturbance by a large predator in the area, the mafia dumping some bodies nearby, or who knows what else.

If they do this everytime for the next 4 earthquakes in the area (and lets all hope now there not as devestating as the last one!) then maybe ill start paying some attention to this claim but for now... i call bollocks....

One event does not allow a conclusion ot be drawn. Else that one time i found a €50 note stuck in a tree means that money really does grow on trees, right?

Italian Toads can predict earthquakes?

Quick, somebody ask Berlusconi when and where the next big one's going to be.

Better to stick to what you know...

I realize biologists may not <always> be held to the same quantitative standards as physicists and geophysicists, but really, extreme caution is warranted when extrapolating outside one's area of expertise.

For decades now, geophysicists have carefully examined radon gas emissions, geomagnetic and geoelectric fields, strain rates, stress measurements, and microseismic records before and after many significant earthquakes. The consensus at this point is that there are NO statistically significant recognizable precursors in the short term (days to months) before large earthquakes.

The non-deterministic nature of earthquake triggering mechanisms makes this a reasonable conclusion. Stress builds up over many years and <will> be released. However the precise location and timing of the main stress release is subject to many complex factors, and is likely to remain unpredictable.

So odd behaviour of a single toad colony 74 km away from the L'Aquila epicentre? Nice try, but no.

Sceptical or stupid?

Do you hear what bats hear, or sense what snakes sense? Is your eyesight as sharp as an eagle's? Can you home like a pigeon, swim like a seal, climb trees like a squirrel?

I tellin yow, animals knows things. My cat comes to meet me when I arrive home in my car, whatever the time. Explain THAT, science

Revoke their biology license

It's astonishing that somebody could publish such a load of bull (toad) crap.

Repeat after me: Correlation is not causation.

@pun-ters

Toads don't hop.

Frogs do, but toads ain't frogs. They walk.

If get killed in an earthquake

can I sue God as "He" made frogs and they didn't warn me?