Most of us know there is a total eclipse on April 8. Many people from Santa Barbara will be traveling to the areas that are in the path of the full eclipse in North America, which extends through central Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and southern Canada.
Here in Santa Barbara, we will see a partial solar eclipse.
The question I’ve been getting from clients is do their dogs or cats need solar eclipse glasses, like the solar eclipse glasses we definitely need, as described by Noozhawk astronomy columnist Dennis Mammana.
According to NASA, the answer is no. Dogs and cats do not need solar glasses.
“It’s no different than any other day,” said Angela Speck, co-chairwoman of the American Astronomical Society Solar Eclipse Task Force. “On a normal day your pets don’t try to look at the sun and therefore don’t damage their eyes, so on this day they’re not going to do it either.
“The sun doesn’t become more dangerous on the day of the eclipse.”
According to Mammana, only us humans need solar eclipse glasses.
“Looking at the sun unfiltered — even for an instant — can cause permanent eye damage or blindness,” he wrote. “Never view the sun or partial eclipse phases with the naked eye, sunglasses, neutral density glass, double thickness of darkened film, smoked glass or other homemade filters.”
Research, during the 2017 solar eclipse, found that many animals may react to the eclipse.
In the journal Animals, researchers observed both domesticated and zoo animals and recorded a range of eclipse-related behaviors.
There was an uneasiness observed in baboons, gorillas, giraffes, flamingos, tortoises and parrots. They found that some birds and cattle reacted to the eclipse as if it was dusk and got ready to bed down for the night.
The journal researchers also noted uneasiness in dogs but it is unclear if this was from the eclipse or from the dogs sensing their owners’ reactions to the eclipse.
“Of all of the animals worth observing during a total solar eclipse, some of the most intriguing are humans,” Oregon Tech behaviorist Nat Bickford said. “They stop what they’re doing; they stare skyward; they lower their voices to a hush. Some may gather their young close. Some may even shed tears.
“If you’ve ever witnessed a full solar eclipse yourself, none of this comes as a surprise; indeed, you’ve surely exhibited some of these behaviors, too.”
The Weather Channel found in the 2017 eclipse that insects, bats and birds that fed at night came out as the sky darkened, occasionally in sufficient numbers to be detectable on radar.
“Light is a huge part of animal life,” according to Austin Garner, a biology professor at Syracuse University. “Fish typically come up to the surface and feed as they do at night. Frogs will croak and crickets will chirp.”
Birdsongs tend to grow quieter as it becomes darker and increase in volume as the sun reappears.
Researchers found that many crows, gulls and sparrows stopped flying and landed on trees or on the ground and silenced caws, calls or chirps.
Flocks of birds and waterfowl on the wing may turn around and go back to their night time roosts, as do many chickens.
Bees may return to their hives, and domestic horses and cows may move to their stables, according to a report from the Evolution, Ecology and Behavior program at Indiana University.
And “in the wild horse herds or in distant paddocks away from their barns, horses may also cluster and begin shaking their heads and tails,” stated another report published in the National Library of Medicine.
The Eclipse Soundscapes Project is a NASA Citizen Science project funded by NASA’s Science Activation program that is studying how eclipses affect life on earth.
The Soundscapes Project is asking for the public’s help as an apprentice, observer, collector of data, and/or a facilitator, especially if you are traveling to the path of the total eclipse.
Many zoos in the path of the full eclipse are looking for volunteers to observe the animals in the zoo during the eclipse.