More Wild Stories Other stories of odd animal behavior before the tsunami have also surfaced Giant waves flooded low-lying parts of Yala National Park in sri Lanka, uprooting trees and killing hundreds of people Wildlife officials reported, however, that few animals died The park is home to hundreds of animals, including elephants, monkeys, leopards, tigers, deer and water buffalo In Thailand, elephants carrying tourists from Japan bolted for the hills, and other elephants broke free of their chains. In one fishing village, nearly 1,000 locals escaped safely after birds squawked madly. Making'Sense of It Why might animals have known trouble was on the way? Forget special powers. Instead, experts say that animals have better senses of hearing, smell and sight than humans do sharp senses help Those warn animals when natural disasters, such as volcanic eruptions or earthquakes, are about to happen It doesn't surprise me that animals had an early warning of the tsunami animal expert Michael Dee of the Los Angeles zoo told Weekly Reader The senses of certain species are far stronger than what any human Dee points out that dogs, for example, have a stronger sense of smell than humans and that cats can see better in the dark than people. have