The Quebec Zoo studied animal behavior during last week's total solar eclipse

MONTREAL — As darkness fell during last week's total solar eclipse, Japanese macaques turned their backs to the sun and crowned cranes remained unusually quiet.

But the Himalayan black bears simply slept as if nothing had happened.

A zoo in Quebec used last Monday's total solar eclipse to study the behavior of some of its animals. The zoo's research and conservation department was approached by an astrophysics professor from the Université du Québec à Montréal with a request to participate in a behavioral study of animals and collect data on how they reacted during the rare phenomenon.

Granby Zoo is located in the Estrie region of the province, which offers one of the best views of the rare total solar eclipse in southern Quebec. While people were fascinated, few studies have been conducted on animals' reactions during this rare event.

Chelsey Paquette, conservation coordinator at Granby Zoo, about 65 kilometers east of Montreal, said the zoo jumped at the chance to get involved. A study will be published to present the results.

“We can conclude that luminosity definitely has an impact on animals, and whatever data we find, the conclusions we can draw from the species in the zoo can probably be generalized to wildlife species as well,” Paquette said.

“It is a rare event. “So it is quite unique to collect data during a rare event to better understand how luminosity in the presence of the sun can affect animals.”

Observers recorded the animals' activities on two days a week before the eclipse, between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. during the event itself, and on another two days later the following week.

The reactions they saw varied.

For example, the Japanese macaques, a species of monkey native to Japan, reacted to the solar eclipse differently than the researchers expected.

“We expected them to be excited and want to group together and go to the night habitats, for example,” Paquette said. “But during the total eclipse, it was almost as if they stopped speaking, they stopped all their movements and they just turned their backs to the sun and were just zen and calm.”

The red-crowned cranes are usually quite vocal, but also fell silent when the eclipse reached its peak, Paquette said.

The male red panda spent most of the afternoon walking around his enclosure, but as soon as the eclipse came, he climbed a tree and slept with the female the entire time, which she said was unusual.

Paquette was classified as a Himalayan black bear.

“We assumed that they would likely move to their nocturnal habitat when the sun was completely covered. It was pretty much like that night,” Paquette said. “But the bears just continued to sleep throughout the afternoon and didn't seem to be really affected by the eclipse.”

Tahrs, hoofed animals related to goats and sheep, typically spend their afternoons quiet and resting, with half of the zoo's animals usually lying down.

“But during the eclipse, 100 percent of these animals were actually standing up and walking around, so it was actually a pretty drastic change for them,” Paquette said.

The zoo attempted to collect data on a variety of species, including some that are typically active during the day and others that are more active at night. One observation was that prey species responded more strongly to the eclipse than predator species, Paquette said.

“It's just interesting, these little observations that we've been able to make,” Paquette said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 14, 2024.

Sidhartha Banerjee, The Canadian Press