[Griff]

Toads moving uphill
Among the first scientific studies to document animal behavior before an earthquake comes from Italy, where a team of scientists spent a month investigating the breeding behavior of common toads (Bufo bufo) in April 2009. The toads typically breed in a shallow pool on a lakebed.

But at one point, most of the site's toads suddenly disappeared — and five days later, a strong earthquake struck the region. The toads returned to the pool once the quake's last aftershocks occurred. The researchers published their findings in the Journal of Zoology.

"It's the first time that any study has really documented unusual behavior before an earthquake in a scientific and methodical way," lead study author Rachel Grant, a zoologist from The Open University in Britain, told LiveScience in an earlier interview. "We did it properly and scientifically, and consistently looked at behavior."

Anybody seen UT?