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Because animals are more in tune with nature than humans, there are MANY types of animals that live by or near volcanoes (until they erupt, that is).

You yourself may have noticed that birds of various types will go silent before a big storm, or you may have read about the elephants in Indonesia that took tourists to higher ground just before a (humanly undetectable) tsunami.

Before eruptions, tremors in the earth often occur. Animals can feel it and take notice of this danger. Also, volcanoes will spew steam and smoke before they actually erupt with lava and/or ash.

Volcanic soil is very fertile and is ideal for plant growth. This attracts herbivores and then their predators. The magnitude of the eruption may not be enough to kill wild life instantly, and ash won't kill organisms in a matter of seconds.

So the animals can escape if they haven't fled already.

There are very few eruptions as destructive as the Mt. Saint Helen's eruption. Therefore, animals can live freely next to or near volcanoes, even on the summit.

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14y ago

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