Frightened giraffes, zebras and ostriches ran in circles as total darkness fell on the Dallas Zoo for the 2024 solar eclipse, but the elephants were not phased.
The zoo offered a special eclipse event and had staff stationed around the park to talk about how the animals reacted as visitors flocked to be in the path of totality that swept through Mexico and North America on Monday.
The total solar eclipse paralyzed the country as millions of people stopped working and going to school to find any spot where they could see the rare celestial phenomenon.
At the Dallas Zoo, keepers didn’t know what to expect, assuming that primates would be the most sensitive to the eclipse and that birds might sense that it’s nighttime and think it’s time to roost.
But it was the giraffes, zebras and ostriches that had the strongest reactions, becoming increasingly frightened as the daytime sky darkened.
Christine Montgomery, Applied Behavior Manager at the Dallas Zoo, told CW33: “This is the first eclipse we’ve had here at the Dallas Zoo, so we’re really interested to see what our animals are going to do.” .
The giraffes were the first to run, galloping with long strides through their enclosure.
The zebras were next, joining them to run in circles with small jumps.
Then the ostriches also joined in, flapping and kicking.
She said: “We don’t anticipate them doing something so extraordinary, but come to the zoo with us.”
“We’re going to watch and see what happens, so you’ll learn along with us.”
A crowd gathered at the Zoo to watch the eclipse and at first everything was calm.
But as the sky began to darken, the animals became more alert and some began to get scared.
The ostriches gathered in a group in the center of their pen and one of them laid an egg just before the sun completely set.
The birds returned to their nesting perches thinking it was night while the penguins and flamingos huddled close together.
Not everyone was fazed as the elephants remained calm even when total darkness fell.
As the sky began to darken the animals became more alert and some began to get scared.
Crowds were delighted by the eclipse and saw how the animals reacted.
When the zoo fell into complete darkness, the giraffes were the first to run out, galloping with long strides through their enclosure.
The zebras were next, joining them to run in circles with small jumps.
And then the ostriches joined in too, flapping and kicking.
But not all animals were eliminated.
The elephants were completely bewildered by the eclipse, standing and eating as if nothing extraordinary was happening.
And the western lowland gorillas simply yawned and stretched as the sky darkened.
The crowd was delighted by the displays, cheering and filming the animals.
Western lowland gorillas simply yawned and stretched as the sky darkened
He was left completely bewildered as the crowd gathered to see how he would react.
The giraffes calmed down again after a while as the sky brightened again.
A 2020 study on how animals react to the zoo said the rarity of an eclipse makes it a “novel experience” for animals and can therefore induce “anomalous behaviors.”
They found that of the 17 species they observed, 13 exhibited unusual behaviors.
They found that several species displayed anxious behaviors, huddling or becoming silent.
The Komodo dragons had one of the most interesting changes in the study, going from staying almost perfectly still to running around frantically until the sun reappeared and then standing still again.
Baboons, flamingos, gorillas, giraffes, and Komodo dragons displayed worried behaviors, while birds and elephants simply acted as if it were nighttime.
Thousands packed towns along the total solar eclipse’s ‘path of totality’, where the moon will completely block the sun, starting in Mexico and passing through Texas to New England and ending in Canada.
Everywhere along the way, people saw a partial eclipse followed by the total eclipse, and then a partial eclipse again.