Many of society's greatest natural disasters could have been avoided with a little forethought, funding, and observation. While it's largely up to the government to prepare communities for disasters, it's up to YOU to protect yourself in testing times. With the information on this list, you will be able to recognize, address, and react to numerous environmental and natural disasters all before it's too late...
Scratch Marks on Trees
Now, this can mean a multitude of things, but if you’ve ever been able to picture what bear claws look like in your mind’s eye, try and match that image with what’s on the tree. Great northern bears, typically black and brown bears, will scratch trees for similar reasons that cats scratch furniture, they’re honing their claws. If you find yourself seeing some of these markings in the wild, it’s best to turn around and walk back from where you came. You don’t want to run into a bear in any capacity.
Green Skies
In the summertime, it’s not unlikely to catch a green/aquamarine sky above you. This occurs when there are high, dense stormclouds developing while the sun sets and changes the color of the sky from blue to orange. This orange mixes with the blue/gray of the clouds to make an eerie green color, which should be your indicator to run for cover. If the sky is green, it’s highly likely that there is a violent storm cell developing in the upper atmosphere, increasing the potential for hail and extreme wind.
Square Waves
This phenomenon is fairly uncommon, and it usually occurs at the end of large peninsulas, but when it does happen, watch out. This beautiful grid pattern isn’t just there for no reason, due to wind/current patterns, these sections of current within the ocean are clashing at a consistent rate. This is typically represented by choppy or “stormy” water, but this calm gridded pattern is choppy water’s quiet cousin. Underneath the surface, there are unpredictable and clashing currents that can either sweep you out into open water, or drag you under the surface with immense power. It’s best to avoid swimming when the water looks like this, trust us.
Animals Fleeing
If you see multitudes of animals fleeing an area that’s mostly inhabited by humans, you should follow them. It’s likely that they are running from an impending natural phenomenon like a freak earthquake, storm, or tsunami. Wild animals have an innate biological sense to avoid natural dangers preemptively, and when science fails us, humans should listen to their furry counterparts for advice regarding their own safety.
Red Tides
Red tides are generally caused by the invasion of red and brown algae that is poisonous to the fish in certain areas and toxic to humans. If you can see a fluorescent orange glow under the water, a good rule of thumb is to avoid swimming in that location, no matter how enticing it looks. A good rule of thumb is if there are dead fish in a place, you really shouldn’t swim in the water that the fish died in.
J-Shaped Trees
Spying J-shaped trees on a hike or walk through the woods can be extremely confusing for the inexperienced hiker, and quite perturbing for the experienced wilderness explorer. When you see J-shaped trees, that means that the land has shifted significantly since that tree started growing. This is usually a telltale sign of an impending landslide, but that can happen at any time anywhere, seeing J-shaped trees is just a little more evidence of the looming danger.
Cracked Snow
Unless you’re an avid mountain climber or an extreme climate explorer, this isn’t a typical phenomenon that you’ll have to look out for. However, if you live near, or on a mountain, these are some seriously important signs that you should look out for, provided you’re in avalanche territory. If the snow above you is starting to crack, almost as if there is water running through it, you should get as far away from where you are as fast as possible. This is an indication that the ice layer under the snow is not structurally sound, and this can send massive pieces of ice and rock down the mountain right at you and your house if you're not careful enough.
Maraca Sounds in Nature
Snakes don’t typically like attacking anything that it can’t eat. Venomous snakes regularly lose their teeth when they are forced to defend themselves from larger creatures, they also have a difficult time producing more venom to hunt their prey. If you hear a muffled rattling sound, almost as if someone is shaking a maraca near you, freeze and try to locate the sound. If you can hear where the rattlesnake is, slowly walk away from it without making any sudden movements. Rattlesnakes are not aggressive creatures unless provoked, so as long as you heed its warning, you shouldn’t have to try and find any anti-venom.
Brightly Colored Pools
These bodies of water are typically located around geysers in national parks, especially in areas that have active fault lines and moving tectonic plates. These bodies of water occur when magma under the surface intersects with an underground spring. This can either result in a geyser developing, or the surface can break and create one of these pools. The bright blues and oranges come from bacteria that thrive in hot environments, which can make you sick, but they should be the least of your worries. If these pools aren’t actively boiling like a pasta pot, the water is likely just under 212° Fahrenheit. For those who don’t know, first degree burns start to develop when exposed to objects that are 130° Fahrenheit, so this water can truly mess you up.
Bees Near Their Hives
If you get stung by a bee near its hive, you need to run immediately. Once the bee dies, assuming it’s of the type of bee that dies after it stings you, the bee’s body will produce pheromones that will attract the rest of the hive to its body. This will aggravate the bees, and within seconds you can find yourself getting caught in a swarm of dangerous, stinging insects. If you do end up finding yourself swarmed with bees, you should sprint towards the nearest body of water and try to submerge yourself. The bees will eventually lose interest and leave you alone.
Sharks Swimming in Deep Water
If you spot some sharks swimming in deep water, you’re not necessarily in danger from the sharks. In fact, this is the least likely time that a person would be attacked by a shark because they’re fleeing from potentially dangerous incoming weather that you should be running from as well. So far, in modern history, 100% of the most devastating hurricanes were prefaced with sharks and other large predatory marine creatures traversing into deep water to avoid the coastal impact that hurricanes have. If these creatures swim out into deep enough water, they can avoid the effects of hurricanes entirely, even though they are typically their strongest when traveling across bodies of water.
Dust Walls
This is an extremely dangerous, and common, occurrence in low areas all around the world. Dust walls are typically generated by a mixture between long-term droughts and rapid shifts of temperatures between the ground and atmosphere. When the ground is hotter than the air, or vice versa, a high-pressure system can develop and sweep up massive amounts of dirt and dust. That high-pressure system will migrate, just like a thunderstorm does, and pass over populated areas because the ground temperature is naturally warmer than in non-inhabited places. If you find yourself in a dust storm, cover your face and eyes and try to get inside anywhere you possibly can.
Frogs Croaking Excessively
Frogs are some unique and strange creatures, and they are one of the only species that exists on every continent on the planet! In order to alert their other frog buddies that there is inclement weather approaching, frogs will croak significantly more as higher pressure systems creep closer to their location. This was something developed over time because all frogs lay their eggs in water, and sometimes they can get washed away by storms, so frogs alert their fellow amphibians to protect their precious future tadpoles and to preserve their species’ lineage.
Cracked Trees
This can be a sign for a multitude of things, but the most common is that a tree is either so damaged or internally rotten that it’s in danger of falling at any moment. This could also mean that this tree was recently struck by lightning, which more often than not splits a tree down the middle. In some unique cases, trees that hold a lot of sap, like the maple tree, can explode because the lighting causes the sap inside the tree to instantly vaporize and expand. If you get caught in this kind of situation, run for cover if you can.
A Ring Around the Sun
There is a pretty high chance that you’ve seen this before and thought nothing of it, and then later that afternoon got drenched by an unexpected freak thunderstorm that you wish you could have avoided. Well, lucky for you, there is a perfectly helpful explanation that can prevent you from getting caught without your umbrella ever again. This ring that can be seen around the sun in the summertime is when very thin cirrus clouds drift in front of the sun, and the rainbow ring you see is actually the sun’s reflection off of billions of water droplets suspended in the air. When this happens, you can expect a thunder cell to develop within the day.
Mushrooms Growing Next to Trees
Foraging for mushrooms, heck, foraging for food, in general, is a dangerous game. However, with the proper set of skills and the accompaniment of an experienced forager, you can walk out of the forest with a meal of free, organic fungus and foliage. One important thing that you’re going to learn on your first foraging day is that you never, ever pluck mushrooms that grow close to trees unless you know exactly what they are. Poisonous mushrooms tend to like to spread their spores close to, and on wet trees. Search flat, low areas for edible fungus.
Wall Clouds
Wall clouds, also known as low-hanging thunder cells, are generally an indication that there is violent weather closeby. These clouds form when thunder cells get so heavy from carrying so much water that they fall into the lower portions of the atmosphere. These clouds can potentially be the cause of ground tornados, and when the storm strikes, there is a higher chance that the ground and surrounding objects will be struck by lightning. If you see a cloud like this getting close to the ground, turn tail and run as fast as you can in the opposite direction. Usually, these clouds don’t move very far in the sky unless they become active tornadoes that get pushed by the wind.
Red Berries in the Wild
Although you just watched an animal eat the appetizing looking berries off of a closeby bush, you should never consume red berries in the wild unless you know exactly what they are. If you end up eating holly berries, you will likely poison yourself to the point of constant vomiting. If you eat a cotoneaster berry, which admittedly look perfectly edible, you will become susceptible to seizures and momentary blindness. Wilderness poisonings are no joke, and if you spot a member of your crew eating an unidentified berry or fruit, call poison control immediately.
Receding Ocean Levels
While normal tide changes can be drastic and no cause for alarm, especially during specific moon cycles, if it looks like a beach has doubled in size, and the water looks like it’s being sucked in by a giant vacuum, get out of there. This is one of the only telltale signs of a tsunami or tidal wave that can absolutely devastate coastal towns that don’t have the proper infrastructure to deal with this kind of issue. Unfortunately, tsunami prevention isn’t something that’s typically covered by insurance providers, so you should grab your loved ones and get as far away as you can, forgetting about the material possessions that you left behind.
Rushing Water Sounds
This is fairly unlikely, but if you can ear undescribable rushing water noises coming from an area that’s close to you, and you don’t usually hear those sounds coming from wherever they are coming from, be warned that you might be in the midst of a flash flood. Floods can manifest without warning in a lot of cases, and if you don’t act fast, you can get caught in a world of danger. The best way to avoid getting caught in a flood is to be constantly vigilant, and the warning signs are pretty tell-tale. Unless you’re constantly surrounded by waterfalls, you should easily be able to tell when you’re being threatened by a potential flood.
Hair Standing on End
If we’ve learned anything from Nikolai Tesla, we should know what’s going on when your hair stands on end in an otherwise normal situation. This is when the air fills with static electricity before a big lightning storm is about to hit.
Even though your brain is probably telling you that you don’t need to worry about getting struck by lightning, there is a higher possibility of getting struck by lightning than getting attacked by a shark, or a bear, combined. If you notice your hair starting to stick up, get as low as you can or run for cover because you’re at a higher risk than everything else around you.
Exaggerated Dog Sniffing
Getting sniffed by a dog is no immediate cause for alarm, but it has been proven time and time again that dogs have an innate ability to detect medical abnormalities in the human body. If your pup is sniffing and licking one place on your body significantly more than usual, and you can’t figure out why, you should calmly get that area of your body looked it.
This is no immediate cause for alarm, but this could potentially be an indicator of a hidden ailment or illness that’s flown under the radar. Do not let this behavior freak you out though, you might have just spilled a little peanut butter on your ankle earlier and not known about it until now.
Caves in a Full Moon
Although the idea of viewing a full moon from the inside of a cave sounds pretty cool, you’re putting yourself at an immediate disadvantage by doing this. During the “open” phases of the moon, the tides are significantly more intense than they would be otherwise, so spending the night in an oceanside cave might be a recipe for immediate, unpredictable danger.
Always keep an eye on the phases of the moon while sleeping in oceanside caves no matter what, or just don’t go out of your way to sleep in oceanside caves.
Glossy/Shiny Pavement
There are many ways for black ice to manifest, but usually, when it rains and the ground is a below-freezing temperature, the water will freeze as soon as it hits the asphalt. Black ice is just a colloquial term for “ice that has frozen clear so it’s more difficult to see,” and this phenomenon claims the lives of many annually.
Not only is black ice a danger for pedestrians, but black ice is also one of the leading causes of automotive deaths in the world. It’s always best to drive slowly and carefully in sub-freezing temperatures, and always be on the lookout for shiny surfaces in your headlights.
Water with Gray or White Ice
It’s a good rule of thumb to just never run out on ice unless you see other people successfully frolicking on it. Generally, smart people only step on clear or blue ice that forms over a long period of time in areas that have sub-freezing temperatures. If you do see someone attempting to walk on gray or clear ice, stop them immediately.
There is an extremely high chance that they will either punch a hole through the ice with their foot, or they’ll just fall right through and get drenched. Help your friends out, try to prevent them from making dumb decisions.
Choppy Waters
Although keeping yourself out of dangerous situations is easiest when you physically avoid them, but if you must swim in the ocean on a day where the conditions are suboptimal, at least heed these warnings. Keep an eye out for long stretches of disturbed water, especially on days where the waves are rolling into each other. If you do see a channel of disturbed water stretching out past the shoreline, stay out of the water.
This is called a rip current, and if you’re not a strong swimmer, there’s is a high likelihood that you’re going to have to get rescued by a professional. If you or your friend get caught in a rip current, try to swim to the side of the channel, and then make a big loop to get back to shore and avoid getting swept out once more.
Animals Mass Leaving a Place
We’ve already covered animals running towards you, how about when animals are running AWAY from you? Much like how animals run out of heavily populated areas when there are earthquakes and other natural disasters, the inverse generally occurs when man-made disasters and fires strike unsuspecting places and animals have nowhere to evacuate to.
Animals will mass-enter human spaces quickly if their habitats are destroyed, and they generally wreak havoc on the belongings of underprepared people. If you see a stampede of deer coming from one singular place, lock your doors.
Steaming Lakes
Unlike geyser pools, steaming lakes present an even more devastating threat for those who choose to mess with them. If you’re close to a volcano, or any active volcanic surface for that matter, chances are all the surrounding groundwater will intermittently bubble and swell, releasing steam. This is the precursor to an event called a “limnic eruption,” which is when a body of water surrounding a volcano literally explodes due to a buildup of carbon dioxide under the surface.
Although it is never a smart decision to enter actively volcanic locations, it is even less smart to go near a volcanic lake without prior knowledge about the lake’s de-gassing. These areas are generally heavily regulated by local conservationists and park rangers, so you will never truly be in danger, just close to it.
Lines of Clouds
These lines are called “inflow bands,” which are quite literally channels of high-intensity weather that allow storm clouds to travel faster. These inflow bands are also indicators of impending tornadoes, and they usually stretch to the southern side of the storm and finish in the south-east, which is generally where most violent weather comes from in America.
Storm spotters regularly seek out inflow bands to warn people of incoming inclement weather, as they are directly correlated with wild storms. Inflow bands never show up unless there is a nasty storm brewing, so you should look for high, covered ground 100% of the time.
Bright Green or Stinky Water
Water that has been sitting for a long time will generally develop a mildewy/sulfuric odor that indicates an influx of harmful bacterial cultures that will make anything that drinks out of it sick. Additionally, if you see stagnant water with the development of bright green algae in it, stay as far away as you can.
While algae isn’t inherently bad for health and the environment, an algae bloom indicates that the water has been sitting for a long enough time at a warm enough temperature to sustain enough bacterial growth that algae is able to multiply and feed off of the carbon dioxide that’s being produced by said cultures. It’s usually within your best interest to avoid stagnant water, no matter how enticing it may be.
A Gassy, Shaking Hill
While this might come as a no-brainer to most of you, some individuals need to be educated about the signs of danger that can come from a sudden, unpredicted volcanic eruption. If you find yourself standing on a hill and it starts to crack, shift, rumble, or steam from various holes, you should run. Inactive volcanoes are like time bombs, and they can pop up unpredictably around the world without warning.
Inactive volcanoes are usually marked and restricted as insanely dangerous places, but more people have died getting caught in the production of a volcano than one would think. If your shoes start to feel warmer, walk somewhere else quickly.
Brown Bears in White Climates
One of the unfortunate indicators of the reality of global warming is the migration of brown and black bears to polar bear territory. This cuts the amount of prey for polar bears down even further from the already tragically low availability due to years of persistent climate change and no adjustment.
As more and more bears migrate north to chase cold weather prey, polar bears will eventually go extinct, and these areas will get more dangerous. Despite the obvious necessity of addressing our current climate change crisis, addressing an aggressive bear population that’s migrated farther north than ever before is just another layer to the problem.
Fish Disappearing
If you start to notice that fish have stopped feeding or migrating through a specific area, chances are that area isn’t good for people to be in either. Factory runoff and improper handling of waste can toxify waterways that had previously been inhabited by fish, and when those fish start to disappear is when humans should take a look at how they are handling the situation.
Additionally, if fish don’t generally show up in a place they used to show up in, you probably don’t want to eat the fish that are showing up there. Generally, fish that travel alone or in small packs are injured or sick, forcing them to go to farther reaches to feed and survive.
Sulfuric Smells
Hydrogen sulfide, also known as “sewer gas” is a byproduct of organic decomposition and digestion. In layman’s term, that rotten egg smell that you can occasionally catch either in the wild or in cities doesn’t usually come from rotten eggs, it comes from decaying flesh and feces. If you smell hydrogen sulfide and start to get dizzy, your vision starts to tunnel, or you get an immediate headache, you should try to find the source of the odor and back away from it.
Contacting a government agency should be your first plan of action, you should never attempt to clean up organic waste on your own.
A Bull Kicking Up Dirt
A very specific type of person needs to hear this, if you’re in front of a bull and it starts kicking up dirt, this is a natural indicator that your presence is unwanted, and the bull is going to try and eradicate your presence unless you do something about it yourself, and fast. Kicking up dirt is an indicator to invasive creatures that the bull is, in fact, aggressive and it does not want to be around you.
You are in the bull’s space, and in order to survive, you need to get out. Fortunately, only a select few people need to hear this, but if you’re one of the few, you’re welcome.
Brightly Colored Animals
Nature has it’s own warning signals that indicate that a particular species is dangerous. For instance, the Texas coral snake is a brightly colored creature that has unnatural looking stripes, indicating to their predators that they are poisonous creatures and they should not be hunted. Both the poison and the bright coloring are defense tactics that animals have evolved to develop over the millions of years that there has been life on Earth.
If you run into a brightly colored snake or frog, a good procedure is to leave it alone and back out of its space, one wrong move could mean the loss of your life.
Dead Bees
If there are a lot of dead bees sitting on the ground in an area, you should avoid the area and alert a professional to move the hive. This is likely due to bees defending themselves against common predators, and you can be mistaken for a predator if you get close enough to the hive while there is external unrest.
This can also mean that there are pesticides and insecticides on plants nearby that are killing bees, which is another difficult situation in and of itself. Bees are fragile, and they get aggressive when they are provoked.
Cloud Funnels
A cloud funnel is a fancy term for a tornado. If you see a funnel descending from the sky, you probably know exactly what it is, but what you might not know is how to react to it. If you can get inside a house, search for the nearest heavy object and attempt to secure yourself to it. Whether it’s hanging onto the oven or washing machine, or laying in a porcelain bathtub, securing your space on the ground will prevent you from being thrown by the tornado if it passes over your shelter.
If you’re trapped outside, try and hide on the opposite side of a tree or a car to the tornado, stay as low and as centered as possible, close your eyes, and pray that the twister doesn’t come your way.
Thick, Wet Looking Dirt
Indiana Jones warned us, but we’re here to say that quicksand isn’t as extreme as it’s been made out to be. If you find yourself stepping in some quicksand, which is just a fancy term for a mud pit, simply stay relaxed and walk backward out of the pit. The more you struggle, the farther you will sink into the pit, and the more difficult it will be to get yourself out.
Fear not, though, it’s still pretty easy to escape if you end up waist-deep, just slowly try to walk up and out of the pit, like you’re climbing a set of stairs, the greatest ailment you’re likely to get is wet clothes and maybe a twisted ankle.
Golden-Winged Warblers
Golden-Winged Warblers are notorious for being super fragile, yet beautiful birds. In order to survive harsh conditions, Golden-winged Warblers have developed a keen meteorological sense, so if you see a ton of them flying away from a place together, you should hunker down and wait out whatever impending storm is incoming.
These birds don’t typically like to leave their nests at any point in time, so if you see a bunch of golden-winged warblers fleeing a location, you should follow their lead.
Standing Bears
If you run across a standing bear, or if a bear spots you and stands up, you need to immediately go into defense mode. There are a few procedures for dealing with bears, but the most important piece of information that you should walk away with is the knowledge to not panic. If you run, scream, or show any sudden signs of distress, there is a significantly higher chance that the bear will attack. Instead of showing your weakness, stand up straight, start making hissing noises and stand your ground against the bear.
This will show the predator that you are not an easy meal, and it will likely back away. However, the best course of action is to always carry bear spray with you if you’re hiking in an area that is known to have predatory bears in it.
Dying Canaries
A surprisingly accurate way to determine if an area is safe to be in is whether a canary can enter and exit without either passing out or dying. This is pretty unethical, but this was how miners were able to determine whether there were natural gas deposits in places where they were excavating.
If the team sent a canary into a tunnel and it returned safely, that means there was no dangerous gas in the tunnel. If the canary did not return, the mining team would not enter the tunnel.
Melting Snow/Ice
If you’re in a wilderness setting, like being on a hike in a national park, it’s best to get to know the immediate dangers of your surroundings before you proceed. If you are at the beginning of the winter, are hiking on a particularly warm day during the wintertime, or you’re out for a hike during a thaw period after the winter has concluded, you should avoid patches of snow and ice for pretty obvious reasons.
Walking on ice is generally a bad idea, but it’s especially bad when the ice is melting and the ground underneath it is unpredictable. In addition to that, there is a much higher chance of getting caught in an avalanche in warmer weather, so keep that in mind.
Rising River Levels
If river levels are rising, there is likely to be a high-pressure storm system moving in that can cause huge amounts of flooding if the river is high enough. Even if there isn’t a storm moving in, the higher a river level is, there will be a significantly higher chance of a flash flood happening.
Even if there is no additional rain, when rivers get stressed from overfilling, sometimes the river’s bed can collapse and pour water downhill. Just so you know, this is a genuinely dangerous problem that people die from/lose property to every year.
Yellow Snow
You should know by now, but yellow snow generally means that there is something in the snow that’s causing it to turn yellow. Do you have any idea what could be turning the snow yellow? A good guess would be an animal’s waste, whether it’s human or otherwise, and that’s never pleasant.
Getting acquainted with the various appearances of droppings from specific animals can help you avoid a run-in with a cougar as opposed to a peaceful deer.
Monitoring Cow’s Udders
Cow’s udders will stop producing milk, generally, several days before a major storm. Farmers have been using this as an indicator for inclement weather for hundreds of years, and for some reason, it’s not the most common of things to know.
Cows have an innate sense of barometric pressure, meaning that they can feel an approaching storm long before a meteorologist could predict it coming on. For those who don’t have access to cows, you have to do things the old fashioned way, watching the weather channel’s predictions.
Ladybugs Huddling
Ladybugs are generally part of a large group for at least one portion of their alarmingly short lives. Because of the rapid rate of their reproduction, ladybugs have developed some pack-based tactics to avoid having to face the constant threats that nature throws at them.
For instance, if there is particularly hot weather approaching, ladybugs can be found huddled together in large clusters. This is an effort to protect their eggs in particularly hot weather, and shielding them from the sun both lower the egg’s core temperature and the temperature of the surface they are sitting on.
Wind Shifting Direction
If the wind randomly shifts directions, starts to swirl, or gradually changes from north to south, there is most likely an intense storm brewing. Storms carry high winds with thems, and as they approach areas, the wind typically precedes their arrival.
This would be a good indicator to head indoors, or at least try and catch some cover while you can. If the wind switches and there are visible storm clouds above you, you’re probably going to get stuck in a random, violent storm.
Dead Fish Washing Up
If there are dead fish washing up on a beach or riverbank, there is most likely something inorganic in the water causing this. Like the aforementioned point about factory runoff and human waste causing fish to evacuate previously active areas, if dead fish are washing up, that means the problem is likely much more sudden and sinister than other circumstances.
This can also be an indicator of a sudden change of temperature, or the growth of harmful algae that wipe out massive populations of fish that are sensitive to that kind of thing.
Sharks Swimming in Circles
You should know this by now, but if you’ve literally been living under a rock with no access to the Discovery Channel’s annual “Shark Week” extravaganza, when sharks circle something, they’re trying to eat it. If you find yourself treading water, surrounded by circling sharks, which is highly unlikely but it has happened before, you might want to count your blessings and make amends with yourself, because it’s feeding time for those predatory fish.
Sharks will typically circle an edible creature and nudge it with their noses to prove that it’s still alive, and sometimes sharks will just take a quick chomp of something to make sure it’s actually there (sharks have terrible vision). If you’ve ever seen what a curious shark’s bite can do to a car door, you should have an idea as to what that can do to a human body.
Raised Fur on Animal’s Backs
Cats and dogs both share this reaction in regards to feeling threatened. Similar to the reason human beings get goosebumps sometimes when threatened, animals will puff themselves up to look bigger in the event that they sense that they’re in danger.
If you run across an animal and it puffs its fur out, back off and give it a respectable amount of space. It’s highly unlikely that you will be making friends with that animal anyways, so it’s best if you just leave it be.
Large Animals Rearing Back
Horses and cows both share a defense mechanism called rearing. Goats, sheep, and other long-legged quadrupeds do a similar practice that is generally intended to just scare away predators, but if a predator comes too close to the animal, it will come down and crush them.
Horses and donkeys also rely on their powerful legs for self-defense, so keep an eye out while walking behind a horse, they regularly claim the lives of uneducated, unexpecting individuals.
Packs of Feral Hogs
This should go without saying, but when the only legitimate argument for legal civilian possession of assault rifles is dealing with the feral hog epidemic, there has to be some merit to their concerns. In fact, spotting a pack of feral hogs and alerting the people around you is akin to defusing a bomb, currently, feral hogs are the leading cause of property damage in over half the states in America.
If you see a pack of feral hogs, that’s nature saying that you are no longer the apex predator without tools, and you should run.
Dogs Laying on Their Backs
The language of domesticated dogs is regularly misconstrued by the human eye. You see, humans act selfishly with domesticated pets, and they generally think that if a dog is presenting its stomach to you, that it wants you to pet it. Unless this is your own dog that you know very well, this is generally not the case.
A dog will show you it’s stomach to present its lack of desire to fight, but when provoked, it will. A dog exposing its stomach is essentially a warning flare before it uses its actual defensive mechanisms, so watch out.
Sweet, Garlicky Smells
A lot of people who experience gas leaks report a “sweet, metallic, garlicky” smell emanating throughout their area. If you smell an uncharacteristic garlicky odor, you might be in the middle of a natural gas leak, which can manifest both outdoors and indoors. It’s important to activate all ventilation devices and open all of your windows in the event that this odor is smelled indoors, make sure that you turn off all ignition sources and call your gas provider.
If the odor is present outdoors, quickly walk uphill and up-wind from where you smelled it and call your local park services team. Natural gas poses major dangers to the environment and the health of creatures in natural areas, and it’s important that these issues get addressed immediately when they’re spotted.
Leaves With Waxy/Oily Coatings
When out and about in the woods, it’s important to know what’s toxic and non-toxic, even if it’s stuff you don’t even plan on eating. All leaves with waxy coatings are toxic to some degree, whether consumed or placed on the skin. This is important information to know if you have children and pets that might be susceptible to absentmindedly consuming one of these leaves.
If one of these leaves gets consumed, call poison control and describe the leaf/plant to them if you cannot identify it yourself. Follow all directions from the poison control officials, and do not immediately attempt to induce vomiting, as this can make situations worse at times.
Leaves of Three, Let Them Be
Apart from understanding what leaves are poisonous, it’s also important to follow the code of plants that are dangerous to the touch. However, “leaves of three, let them be” can be misinforming because poison sumac can have dozens of leaves connected to the same frond. A good rule of thumb is that if the leaf grows in a group of three, or higher, be wary of its effects.
Many leaves can be poisonous, but only some leaves are truly dangerous to a person’s health. If you come into contact with a poison leaf, expect some serious inavoidable discomfort, and immediately wash the affected area with dish soap and hot water.
Slippery Moss/Seaweed
If you’re walking on a jetty, dock, trail, or anything that has rocks and standing water on it, look out for patches of seaweed and moss.
These patches of foliage collect water and secrete water-soluble fibers that increase the viscosity and lubricant quality of standing water, posing an immediate threat to anyone who is trying to walk over that area. Be careful in these places, because one wrong step can mean a concussion, broken bones, or even worse.
Bullseye Marks After Tick Bite
This is the telltale sign of Lymes Disease that has been transferred via tick bite. If you notice a tick is burrowed into your skin, or just biting you in general, cover the tick in cheap neutral oil. This will cause the tick to suffocate and slowly detach itself from your body.
Once the tick is free from your skin, put it in a jar and visit a doctor to test the tick for Lymes Disease. If treated early, Lymes Disease will not have the devastating long-term effects it has on so many of its unfortunate victims.
The Smell of Ozone
Before and after a wild thunderstorm, there will be a definitive drop in atmospheric pressure and the presence of ozone in the air. Ozone has a particular smell that is difficult to describe but simple to recognize, and if you begin smelling ozone around you before a storm, there is a high chance that there will be grounded lightning strikes.
The ozone in the air makes the atmosphere more conductive, generating more atmospheric static electricity than what would be generated in the air alone. Ozone also hangs in the air after the storm, giving the land around it a recognizable metallic smell.
The “Smell” of Snow
The “smell” of snow isn’t really a smell, it’s more of a sensory experience that can be described via smell. Smelling snow is your body actually sensing a multitude of feelings, one of them being cold air, another is the perception of weather before snow hits.
The smell that is detectable while snow is falling is actually the snowflakes pulling pollutants out of the air and dropping them on the ground. Think about that the next time you shove a handful of snow in your mouth for some cold refreshment.
Joint Pain
Some people claim that they can feel a storm coming “in their joints,” which is not incorrect, but it is extremely difficult for a person to notice the difference in their body because the change is so minute. People who suffer from arthritis have a buildup of fluid in their joints that causes them pain, and when the barometric pressure of an area increases, so does the volume of the liquid that causes arthritis.
This is why some people claim that they can feel a storm coming in their bones, however, the amount of change is so minuscule that it’s more than likely that this is just a commonly misconceived phenomenon that has been propagated because it’s fun and cute.