In ponds and rivers across China, packs of fish have been seen jumping straight out of the water, one after another.
The odd situation was captured on video recently in four Chinese provinces, from the southwest to the far northeast.
The abnormal behavior of the fish has sparked speculation. Some are calling it a possible sign of upcoming earthquakes.
Similar Phenomena
Earlier this year, Chinese social media users around the country have reported unusual sightings of dense flocks of crows, and want to know why such things are happening. Several netizens suggested answers based on ancient Chinese knowledge.
Most of the videos showing flocks of crows are from Yichang, Jingzhou, and Hanchuan, cities in Hubei Province—epicenter of the Wuhan coronavirus. All were videoed and posted on Jan. 28.
In the Hanchuan City video, a large, dense flock of crows was videotaped flying around and cawing loudly. One observer said, “This situation has never occurred before.”
In a similar video from Yichang City, a man exclaimed, “Oh my God, it is said that abnormal scenes predict something unusual is about to happen.”
After those videos were viewed on the internet, netizens from other cities, including Jiaozuo and Puyang, in Hunan Province; and Beijing and Tianjin cities, wrote that they had observed similar phenomena recently.
A netizen from Beijing wrote: “I saw an even larger flock of crows in Beijing’s Haidian district last month. There were at least 1,000 crows.”
Someone from the online community provided a possible answer: “The crow is an eater of carrion. The elderly say that crows seem to anticipate death because they can smell it, even before a person dies. In other words, they can smell the odor of a dying person; but we humans cannot. They will then circle around this person waiting for him to die. That is why in Chinese culture crows are considered inauspicious and are always linked with death.”
Epoch Times reporter Olivia Li contributed to this report
