Exercise 3

Do you think animals can predict the weather or other natural events? Farmers living in the countryside think so. For hundreds of years, they have observed animals and noticed many things about the way animals act. ___(1)___. Or, when cows lie down, a rainstorm is coming. There are many traditional stories ___(2)___. Some scientists are taking another look at animals to see if there is any truth behind these stories and beliefs. They have found some surprising things.
Kiyoshi Shimamura is a Japanese earthquake researcher. He noticed an increase in dog bites a short time before earthquakes hit. ___(3)___. These health centers treated people after a big earthquake. Shimamura noticed that the month before the big earthquake, ___(4)___. In fact, aggressive behavior in dogs, such as biting and barking loudly, jumped 60 percent!
Other animals change their behavior before an earthquake as well. For example, fish in ponds or lakes begin swimming together in large groups only in the middle of the water and not near the edges. Also, birds may fly away from their nests for many days, leaving their eggs unprotected. These behaviors suggest that ___(5)___.
(Adapted from Reading Challenging 1)