History Main / CanaryInACoalMine

* ''TabletopGame/AdvancedDungeonsAndDragonsFirstEdition'': The ''Dungeoneer's Survival Guide'', in its chapter about Air Supply, contains the advice that small birds can be used by adventurers traipsing underground to detect gradually increasing amount of poisonous gas; the bird makes its (very low) saving throw against poison a turn before bigger creatures, giving them a warning by dying.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'', [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-2608 SCP-2608 ("Anomalous Indicator Species")]]. SCP-2608 are an unusual type of mayfly that start dying off when they get close to an anomalous (super science, magical, etc.) item. They can be used to detect anomalous objects by moving them around and noting when they start to die.

* WebOriginal/{{Serina}}: Said word-for-word when a mass extinction is caused by a literal (if highly derived) canary in a coal mine. [[DisasterDominoes The fleeing canary kicked up coal dust into an already out-of-control fire, causing a massive conflagration throughout the entirety of the northern continent's coal seams, leading to runaway global warming and mass die-offs]], which actually prolonged the habitable period of the titular planet due to staving off the apocalyptic ice age for a couple more tens of millions of years.
* [[https://twitter.com/ASmallFiction/status/965483556376948736 This tweet]] by Blog/ASmallFiction tells of a canary brought into a mine to test for danger, only the danger turns out to be [[DugTooDeep of an unusual kind]].

* Music/TheCraneWives song "Canary in a Coal Mine" is built on this- it's sung from the PoV of the canary, begging the miners to not forget how she saved their lives at the cost of her own.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'' shows the origins of the Planeteers in flashback. Linka's shows a group of Russian miners escaping from a mine after the air goes bad. One of them, Linka's father, carries the now dead canary and laments that she will be devastated. She is.

* ''Series/TheBrittasEmpire'': Colin uses a canary in “[[Recap/TheBrittasEmpireS7E8CurseOfTheTigerWomen Curse of the Tiger Women]]” to detect marsh gas present in the centre. Although it dies, it’s used to show that Brittas’ cooking really has been cursed by a gypsy (as it had a little bit of the food he prepared).

* Music/ThePolice song "Canary in a Coalmine" compares the subject of the song to one of these (as if you couldn't tell from the title) due to his or her neurosis.

* ''Around the World Under the Sea'' (1966). Dr. Margaret Handford brings a couple of guinea pigs on the submarine called Itty and Bitty for "oxygen analysis".

* ''Feathered Friend'', by Creator/ArthurCClarke. A pet canary on a SpaceStation keels over for no apparent reason. Someone remembers the history of this trope and checks the oxygen supply, discovering an air filter has frozen up, at the same time the alarms that would warn of this have been disconnected for a maintenance job.

* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' uses a nonliving example when Todoroki and Yayorozu are fighting [[PowerNullifier Eraserhead]] as part of an exam. Since they first don't know where he is, Yayorozu kept continually making small objects - when they stop coming out, that means he is near.

-->'''Zelda''': Chirpy? Canary's dead, let's get out of here. Oh push Aardvark, push!

* ''TabletopGame/AdvancedDungeonsAndDragonsFirstEdition'': The ''Dungeoneer's Survival Guide'', in its chapter about Air Supply, contains the advice that small birds can be used by adventurers traipsing underground to detect gradually increasing amount of poisonous gas; the bird makes its (very low) SavingThrow against poison a turn before bigger creatures, giving them a warning by dying.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

-->They brought a canary down to test for danger.\\

They left it, and sealed the mine.

* In the ''Series/{{Chernobyl}}'' miniseries, the morning after the accident at [[UsefulNotes/{{Chernobyl}} the Chernobyl nuclear plant]], a group of school children are walking to school when a bird suddenly drops to the ground and goes into death throes.

* In ''Film/TheBirds'', the two lovebirds Cathy keeps in a cage get agitated at the same time the birds outside the house do, meaning that the characters can use them as a warning for when the attacks are about to happen.

* [[https://twitter.com/ASmallFiction/status/965483556376948736 This tweet]] by A Small Fiction tells of a canary brought into a mine to test for danger, only the danger turns out to be [[DugTooDeep of an unusual kind]].

* ''Series/TheBrittasEmpire'': Colin uses a canary in “Curse of the Tiger Women” to detect marsh gas present in the centre. Although it dies, it’s used to show that Brittas’ cooking really has been cursed by a gypsy (as it had a little bit of the food he prepared).

* ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmericaRebirth'': SelfDemonstrating/{{Lobo}} references this when ComicBook/BlackCanary tells him that Batman has asked him to join the new league, saying "Ain't canaries supposed to go to the coal mines to die? That's what it said on your trading card, anyway."

* ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmericaRebirth'': ComicBook/{{Lobo}} references this when ComicBook/BlackCanary tells him that Batman has asked him to join the new league, saying "Ain't canaries supposed to go to the coal mines to die? That's what it said on your trading card, anyway."

* In ''[[VideoGame/BanjoKazooie Banjo-Tooie]]'', Canary Mary is first discovered trapped in a cage inside a cave filled with DeadlyGas.