Meerkats, who are known for their sociability, will be moving into their new habitat in the San Antonio Zoo on Friday. Credit: Courtesy Photo / San Antonio Zoo

Meerkats, whooping cranes and flamingos at the San Antonio Zoo all exhibited strange behavior during Monday’s total solar eclipse, as seen in a video the attraction shared on X, the social media platform formally known as Twitter.

As the moon blocked out the sun’s rays shortly after 1:30 p.m. in San Antonio, the zoo’s meerkat population began running around their habitat as one large group and headed toward their indoor enclosures, presumably to get ready for bed.

Meanwhile, the whooping cranes began to dance — a behavior often performed while courting a mate —and the flamingos huddled together, something the pink birds do as a defense mechanism.

The behavior of the animals shown in the zoo’s video, which has so far garnered some 30,000 views, “supported our working hypothesis that diurnal animals, meaning those awake during the day, would display their typical evening activity patterns during totality,” the zoo said in a statement.

Perhaps the most in-depth study conducted on animal behavior during solar eclipses was conducted by entomologist William M. Wheeler in 1932, who collected over 500 observations of unusual animal behaviors during an eclipse.

The San Antonio Zoo wasn’t alone in its observations, either.  Giraffes, gorillas, lions, macaws and flamingos at the Fort Worth Zoo, which was in the path of totality Monday, also engaged in strange behavior during the eclipse, the Star-Telegram reports.

“The number one most unusual animal behavior during an eclipse is from us, humans,” NC State University Biology professor Adam Hartstone-Rose told the Star-Telegram.

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This article appears in Apr 3-16, 2024.

Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...