Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) – Much has already been made about the upcoming Total Solar Eclipse this April, and what people viewing the eclipse can expect during this once in a lifetime celestial event.

But what about our furry friends and other wildlife animals? How will the eclipse affect their behavior and actions when the Path of Totality sweeps through Western New York on Monday, April 8?

When it comes to your household pets like dogs and cats, most animal experts say nothing much will change with their behavior in the moments before, during or after total darkness.

“It’s very interesting how some of our friends will be completely oblivious of what’s going on. My Labrador, for instance, will not probably care much, as long as I am with him,” said Dr. Reed Stevens with the Niagara Frontier Veterinary Society. “Many people will be at work and they might worry about their pets at home. My recommendation for that is to darken the house as much as possible so they don’t feel the change in light. I think what the pets will feel is just a coming of a darkness like it’s twilight, like our wildlife or domesticated species are feeling.

“For some of the more sensitive dogs, they may feel like a storm is approaching, and looking to us for guidance, looking to see how we’re responding and feeding off of our emotions that we’re emoting. If we feel calm and relaxed, then they will feel calm and relaxed, for the most part.”

Meanwhile, Dr. Stevens says while not all cats are the same, our feline friends may not care as much about what’s happening in the human world.

“I think our cat friends will be ready for a nice nap, or they’ll be maybe upset their sunny spot in the window is not as sunny and warm as it was,” he said.

While our house pets may not be affected much by the Total Solar Eclipse, our domesticated animals and other wildlife creatures may feel a bit different as that Monday afternoon rolls along in Western New York.

“The eclipse, itself, is only three minutes and 45 seconds in this area. My understanding – I’m not an expert in this – is the twilight zone really will be about a half an hour before and a half an hour after. So there’s going to be about an hour period where animals will start to feel differences in the world around them,” Dr. Stevens said. “Of course, it will be progressively darker outside, and even cooler temperatures. Hopefully, it’s a sunny day in Buffalo and we’ll be able to all see it and enjoy it.”

What is expected to happen for many outdoor animals is whether they are diurnal or nocturnal animals. Diurnal animals will sense it’s time to turn-in for the day and go to sleep.

“Chickens might go to roost, horses will head to the barn, cows will head to their stall, bees will head to the hive. And personal memory from the last eclipse, I also remember the birds get astoundingly quiet. So that’s a very interesting thing for people to pay attention to and listen for,” Dr. Stevens noted.

As for nocturnal animals, they will feel it’s time to wake up and go about their normal evening activities. Jeff Musial, also known as “Jeff the Animal Guy” from Nickel City Reptiles and Exotics, says this will be a big time curveball thrown at these animals.

“A lot of the nocturnal animals will come popping out, and then all of a sudden, the sun will come back out and they’re gonna be like, ‘What is going on?’ It’s really going to mess with them, because this is not something they see every day,” said Musial in an interview with WBEN.

Musial says the animals that people may see come out during the totality of darkness and the moments before and after include raccoons, possums and skunks.

“You could be throwing your eclipse party and next thing you know, you’ve got some raccoons walking across your backyard,” he said. “Skunks, raccoons, they’re gonna come popping out, all the birds are gonna stop singing and be roosted up in the trees for the night, crickets are gonna start calling… Then once the sun does come out, again, the raccoons and possums and the skunks, they’re all going to run for cover, because they’re gonna think someone pulled a prank on them.”

Musial adds there’s nothing to really be concerned about when the nocturnal animals come out during the eclipse. He says they likely won’t look to mess with anyone when they wake up for the brief moment before running for cover again.

The only thing Musial mentions caution towards on April 8 during the eclipse with our nocturnal friends is watching out for them on the roadways.

“Just be a little bit more diligent when you’re driving and stuff, because you’ll have some confused wildlife, wondering what’s going on as they’re making their way back to wherever they spent the night. So they might be out on the main roads, things like that, you’ve just got to be very careful and let everyone kind of get back to normal, if you will,” Musial said.

Meanwhile, excitement abounds at the Buffalo Zoo in the days leading up to the Total Solar Eclipse.

“We’re making preparations for a lot of visitors that day,” said Zoo President and CEO, Lisa Smith. “We’re also prepping some research that we’re going to be doing around the eclipse and with the animals. And we’re getting ready to pass out some free eclipse glasses. That’ll happen the Saturday, Sunday and the day of the eclipse.”

Smith and her staff at the Zoo aren’t expecting much, in terms of behavior changes, from a majority of the animals during the eclipse.

“They’re just going to maintain their activities of what they’re doing, but there will be a percentage of the animals that we expect are going to kind of do their nighttime behaviors,” Smith noted. “The birds might move to their nighttime roosting branches, animals might want to try to come into there behind the scenes holding buildings. There will be a percentage of animals that we think are going to act like it’s nighttime.”

However, Smith does feel there will be some animals to pay attention to, when it comes to any potential nerves during the eclipse.

“We might see that in animals that are generally more nervous, like zebras, where they might huddle together. But we don’t expect anybody to really be upset, and they’re not really geared to look at the sun. So we don’t expect anything like that to be happening,” Smith said.

Outside of the animals on exhibit at the Zoo, Smith also feels any behavioral changes from animals will come from those out in the wild.

“Herons have been known to leave their daytime roosts and head back to their nighttime roosts. Bugs might come out for the three minutes of the total darkness, you might hear the crickets or you might see some more activity on that level,” Smith said.” And what you might experience is as the sun reappears after the totality kind of ebs, you might hear birds singing, what we call, their dawn songs. Those are the songs you hear in the mornings.”

So what will the Buffalo Zoo be providing for patrons on the day of the solar eclipse on April 8?

“The first 500 people that come through the door will be able to get free eclipse glasses. We have some activities with our keeper staff, as far as our Citizen Science Research, where you will get an opportunity to help us observe the animals during the eclipse, if you so choose. And our education department has some activities going on as well, such as building some eclipse viewer boxes and things like that.”