Quite how the toads sensed the quake is unclear but a full 96 per cent of males scarpered, only to return a day after the danger was over. The discovery baffled Dr Rachel Grant, who hadn’t set out to discover toads’ reactions to earthquakes but to study the effect of the lunar cycle on them. Now, however, she believes that they might be able to “detect pre-seismic cues, such as the release of gases and charged particles, and use these as a form of earthquake early warning system.”