A video is circulating on social media that allegedly shows birds acting strangely prior to the devastating earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria on Monday.

The video was posted to Twitter and Reddit and shows birds circling the dark sky and tucking into trees.

Photo: Reddit/u/Solonik70

According to the Washington Post, the video remains unverified and it's easy to be skeptical given the amount of fake content that's spread in the past.

It can be hard to distinguish real from fake at times!

According to CNN, the devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake resulted in a death toll o 23,000 people and counting.

Could it be that birds or other animals have the ability to sense natural disasters before they occur?

According to the New Scientist, the idea that animals could sense an earthquake dates back 373 BCE when Greek historian Thucydides said that animals like dogs, rats, snakes, and weasels fled Helice days ahead of a deadly earthquake that hit the city.

Photo: Reddit/u/Solonik70

That's not the only account of animals acting strangely before an earthquake, either. Throughout history, there have been various anecdotal accounts of the phenomenon.

Scientists have looked into the idea, hoping to find ways to detect earthquakes earlier. A 2020 study found that farm animals displayed unusual behavior patterns up to 20 hours prior to a quake.

Photo: Flickr/EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid License: CC BY-SA 2.0

It's not yet known why or how animals behave differently prior to an earthquake, but some believe that the animals could sense air ionization or even smell gases released prior to a quake. Naturally, more research will need to done on the topic of animal behavior to be useful for earthquake prediction, but it's certainly interesting!

Who knows, maybe animals will be the new earthquake detection method in the future.