BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Humans aren't the only ones who will experience the total solar eclipse in Buffalo — our animal friends will also get to experience this unique daytime darkness.
Buffalo hasn't seen a total solar eclipse since 1925 — and what better place than the Buffalo Zoo to find out how animals will react.
"We know that there was a study in 2017 at the Riverbank Zoo, and we're going to try to replicate that study here a little bit ... to see what the animals are going to do because there's not a lot of information" Lisa Smith, Buffalo Zoo president, said.
The zoo will be open on April 8 during the eclipse.
"All the animals will have access indoors and outdoors as they normally would," Smith said. "But we don't expect there to be any kind of anxiety or anxiousness or running around because they're scared."
Dr. Holly Schrieber, Chief Scientist at the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences, said we could see some out-of-the-ordinary animal reactions.
"There's a variety of behaviors that animals can exhibit during that time, and we're talking both wild animals and domestic animals," Dr. Schrieber said.
She said most likely, the animals will just be getting ready for bed.
"There are some stories where dogs and cats start that evening routine," Dr. Schrieber said. "They think it's nighttime. They think it's their normal end-of-day routine."
She said this applies to all types of animals.
"If you happen to be on a farm that day, you may see, during totality, during that maximum darkness, you may see cows returning to the barns. You may see chickens going to roost."
While humans will need to wear protective eclipse glasses in order to safely observe, animals won't have to worry.
"People need safety glasses to be safe, but the animals are used to it. They won't need it," Smith said.
However, once the day goes back to normal and the sun reappears, you can expect some critter confusion.
"Anecdotally, what people have seen in previous eclipses, they're [the animals are] thrown off ... like, 'woo what happened,' " Dr. Schreiber said.
