Solar eclipse 2024: NC State researching how animals behave during total solar eclipse

FORT WORTH, T.X. — A team of NC State University professors and students will take advantage of the rare celestial event on Monday to study the unique response animals might have.

The team led by Dr. Adam Hartstone-Rose will be at a zoo in Fort Worth, Texas during the total solar eclipse, according to ABC11 in Raleigh. They’ll be in the path of totality there. Charlotte will see 80 percent of the eclipse.

Here’s what the solar eclipse will look like in the Charlotte area

The goal of the study is to gather more data to build on a groundbreaking study Hartstone-Rose conducted in 2017 during the last major eclipse.

During the 2017 eclipse, Hartstone-Rose watched 17 species at a zoo at the University of South Carolina, which was in the path of totality. The last time a broad study like this had been conducted was in New England in 1932.

“It was the most comprehensive study in almost 100 years,” said Hartstone-Rose, a Professor of Biological Sciences at NCSU.

The 2024 study hopes to build off the findings from the 2017 research, which found odd behavior from animals during the eclipse, such as nocturnal activities, anxiety, and mating.

“During the eclipse, several species started having anxiety-related behavior,” Hartstone-Rose said. “The flamingos, all the adults grouped around the chicks to kind of protect them.”

Solar eclipse 2024: Where will the eclipse be visible? This map, timeline shows your area

But the craziest reaction he witnessed, and one that he’ll be keeping an eye out for on Monday, was with giraffes.

”Giraffes are really calm animals and really only run when they’re being chased by something or startled. And, actually, during our observations, they started running around again and it was amazing,” he explained. “Another interesting behavior was with slow-moving Galápagos tortoises. During the last eclipse, they began moving much faster and some started mating.”

There’s a way for civilians to help in the study too! Hartstone-Rose is pioneering a citizen scientist project called Solar Eclipse Safari where people across the nation can share their data and observations from the eclipse.

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