averted, is idiocy at its finest.

Sometimes, but only sometimes, animals act strange right before an earthquake strikes. And often the strange behavior is at best minutes before. Not days, certainly not weeks. And again, that behavior doesn't reliably happen.

The animals can predict earthquakes narrative is always and necessarily an anecdotal, post hoc rationalization, which means that it is scientifically worthless.

Earthquakes are not predictable by any science we currently have. So any study using animals must necessarily be post hoc.

Is there any prospective study at all which correlates animal behavior to earthquakes?

I think not.

I would gladly change my mind about this if such studies can be produced. I just do not believe they do, and certainly not prospective studies, meaning before the fact.

Just want to flesh out your post.

they took the stories of animals as predictors very seriously, and set up a country-wide system to monitor such behavior. Supposedly one such major earthquake was predicted ahead of time (by a few hours I think), and lives were saved. But then some other major earthquake hit with no such animal predictions, and they abandoned that effort.

You are right, mostly it doesn't work at all. It is possible that looking back in the minutes right before an earthquake many animals behave oddly, but animals are often doing that, so there's just no consistency. Plus, even more to the point, it's not a decent ahead-of-time indicator.

The best scientists can do today, and probably the best they will ever be able to do, is give a particular probability estimate within a time frame, such as a 40% chance of a magnitude 6 or greater earthquake occurring along a particular fault within the next thirty years.

We all know that someday The Big One will happen on the west coast. But exactly when, and exactly where are the huge unknowns. Plus, as I understand it, new fault lines are discovered all the time.

That quake in Napa Valley this past August is a good example.