[thisCtx]

I think I confused which feature they were talking about.

It’s far fetched maybe but dogs can smell Parkinson’s and cancer before the person develops medically detectable symptoms. So maybe not so far fetched.

Doesn’t have to be a pet. Doesn’t detect when the person will DIE of cancer, yet it shows up later.

Birds have been shown to return to the same locations if they fit their needs. Perhaps it was indicating an illness.

Far fetched but absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

Statistics are not science. Science requires real world evidence and other animals offer at least some evidence they can detect fatal illness in advance.

[michaelmrose]

Dogs are established to have an acute sense of smell along with a lifestyle where they live in close proximity to human beings and communicate with them.

Most birds and pheasants in particular have don't have as well developed a sense of smell as you do and aren't liable to be within 100 yards of people for long.

Even if they could smell impending disease why would they particularly seek out a high place to announce this and how on earth would you distinguish this from a call which announced it's desire to mate or warning about predators including yourself.

Birds make noise all the time. They can't smell you from far away ergo they can't smell impending death. It's like an ink blot test any meaning you are finding is smuggled in by you.

[thisCtx]

Dogs and smell were one example. Maybe it’s sight related. Maybe it’s electromagnetic field sensitivity.

I’m not seeking meaning, I’m seeking falsifiable experiment to conclusively rule out the possibility.

[hisnameismanuel]

Seems to me like this story itself is an inkblot test for HN