Now this is bizarre.  In early May a massive toad migration freaked people out in a village near Mianzhu, Sichuan province. Hundreds of thousands of the amphibians were milling around near a pharmaceutical factory, many getting crushed by passing cars on the road, according to the West China Urban Daily on May 10.

    The paper reported that some residents were wondering if the weird animal behavior could portend an impending disaster. Others interviewed on local TV thought the toad congregation was a lucky sign  instead. "They appeared in 2008, the year China hosts the Olympics. Maybe even animals are coming out to welcome the Olympics!" speculated one, who said he'd never seen such an assembly of toads before.

     Experts of the local Forestry Bureau were sent to check it out. The scientists found a large number of the amphibians hopping around in a drainage ditch behind the factory, where the water  was warmer than elsewhere. Bureau head Shu Shi was quoted as saying the fact that it was the final phase of the toad-breeding season, plus two days of nonstop rain and the warmer temperature of the ditchwater, had created perfect conditions for the creatures to hatch and then hop en masse to higher ground: "This is a normal phenomenon, it has nothing to do with a natural calamity."

    The official reassured residents that toads were not a bad sign, but in fact were good for the farming population because they kill mosquitoes and "protect crops. This is a good thing. It shows the environment in Mianzhu is getting better and better"

    Now, in the wake of the massive May 12 Sichuan earthquake, Chinese Netizens are commenting with hindsight on the teeming toad activity in Mianzhu. "Many animals can give out warnings [about earthquakes]", commented Zhanglinjun007. (It's true that certain fish and farm animals have been known to exhibit unusual behavior just prior to some earthquakes. Maybe we shouldn't dismiss so easily those studies of animals' sensing seismic activity.)

    Was this toad-infested community the same Mianzhu that, according to Chinese media, now has thousands of residents tragically buried by the earthquake -- and if so did the toads know something they didn't? At least some Chinese netizens suspect so. A chatroom participant with the cybernym Hslyliu wrote on Monday evening, "Today on CCTV news they emphasized [that we] not listen to rumors about earthquakes. You should get news issued by the government...haha, the toads are laughing." 

    Of course, the earthquake's horrific death toll is no laughing matter.  The big question is whether there's some way to forecast such disasters in the future, even if it involves studying the activities of the lowly toad. Here's a Youtube clip showing the creeping critters, from a Sichuan TV report (the soundtrack's in Chinese, which should be no problem for this blog's many Chinese-language readers):

Check it out.