Species Syzygy: Which Animal Has Seen the Most Total Solar Eclipses?

Abstract

A Total Solar Eclipse (TSE) is a shocking and sublime experience. In just a week hundreds of millions of Homo Sapiens will attempt to see the 2024 eclipse as it stretches across the North American continent. However, while Homo Sapiens may be uniquely positioned to understand and predict eclipses, they are not the only species capable of observing them. The precise alignment of the Moon, Earth and Sun all existed well before humans. In the same way we share this planet capable of hosting life, the fantastic astronomical experiences available on it are not exclusive either. We present a framework to calculate the number of Total Solar Eclipses experienced by a species at any point in Earth's history. This includes factoring in the evolution of the Sun-Moon-Earth system, the duration the species is extant, and average population. We normalize over the geographic range by calculating an Astronomical World Eclipse Surface cOverage MEtric (AWESOME) time. To illustrate this framework we look at the case study of the family Limulidae (Horseshoe Crabs) and estimate the number of individuals that have seen an eclipse. We compare it to the number of current Homo Sapiens that view eclipses, and predict if it is possible for another species to take the ''top'' spot before the final total solar eclipse in ~ 380 million years.