How do animals react to eclipses? This zoo wants to find out

We all know how excited humans get when we talk about solar eclipses. But have you ever wondered how animals react to one? I’m here at Granby Zoo with all sorts of good- looking animals. But on April 8, the zoo will be closed. And that’s because for the first time ever, experts here

Will be watching to see how animals behave during this extremely rare event. We do have some hypotheses, for example, like in primates, that our Japanese macaques are probably going to go a little bit crazy. Chelsey Paquette says experts will be closely watching 10 species on eclipse day. Researchers will be looking

At how they behaved before, during every minute of the experience and what exactly they do after. During the total eclipse, it will be kind of like nighttime. So the sun is going to disappear. So we’re going to see if the animals go towards their night habitats, if some of them

Are going to vocalize. The total solar eclipse will plunge parts of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico into darkness for several minutes, but only those within the eclipse’s path of totality, that’s the track along which the moon’s shadow falls right on planet Earth and blocks the sun will actually experience complete darkness.

And to live in a spot where you can experience a total solar eclipse happens once every 375 years. So you can see why researchers in Quebec are curious to see what happens. They do have a bit of an idea of what they’ll see. In 1984, researchers at Emory University reported that a

Troop of chimpanzees literally moved to the top of their enclosure, looked straight into the sun and watched the moon cover it together. It’s kind of funny because we were thinking we can’t put eclipse glasses on the animals, so hopefully they’re going to be okay. So what about your own pets? Is there anything

You should be watching for? It’s so short that I don’t think we would see much. That’s been a common question, though. People worry that with the darkness, would an animal look up almost like inquisitively or to investigate? The best advice if people are really worried, would be just to keep

Your pet indoors that day. Here at the zoo, Paquette says it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity for researchers to use that data and share it with other experts and curious minds. So why not? In the meantime, you can get a glimpse of the eclipse at a park, an open field,

Or one of Montreal’s most elevated viewpoints, just don’t forget your glasses.

Granby Zoo, located an hour outside Montreal, will close on April 8 during the solar eclipse. Researchers there will observe how 10 species behave before, during and after the rare event.

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