PAKISTAN - Trees shrouded in ghostly cocoons, line the edges of a submerged farm field in the Pakistani village of Sindh, where 2010′s massive floods drove millions of spiders into the trees to spin their webs.

Earthchanges foster changes in animal behavior

Beginning last July, unprecedented monsoons dropped nearly ten years’ worth of rainfall on Pakistan in one week, swelling the country’s rivers. The water was slow to recede, creating vast pools of stagnant water across the countryside.

“It was a very slow-motion kind of disaster,” said Russell Watkins, a multimedia editor with the U.K.’s Department for International Development (DFID), the organization tasked with managing Britain’s overseas aid programs.

According to Watkins, who photographed the trees during a trip to Pakistan last December, people in Sindh said they’d never seen this phenomenon before the flooding. –National Geographic

Odd animal behavior: In a March 15th interview with radio talk show host Michael Savage, retired geologist Jim Berkland (who predicted the World Series Earthquake of 1989) said unusual animal behavior, along with other factors like tidal patterns and lunar alignment, are earthquake predictors because they indicate changes in the earth’s magnetic field.

He cites; Before the Loma Prieta quake in 1989, Berkland noted that in addition to lunar/tidal factors, twice the usual number of cats and dogs were listed as missing by pet owners in California prior to the quake. –Seattle PI

What were the creatures running from? On March 22, 2011 a series of major quakes shook the globe. There were two 6.6 earthquakes off the east coast of Honshu Japan followed by a 6.3 and a 6.0. Along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, there was a 6.2 quake and 3 quakes were reported near Spain, along with small quakes in the Czech Republic and France.