单选题
A tsunami was triggered by an earthquake in the Indian Ocean in December, 2004. It killed tens of thousands of people in Asia and East Africa. Wild animals, 1 , seem to have escaped that terrible tsunami. This phenomenon adds weight to notions that they possess a "sixth sense" for 2 , experts said.
Sri Lankan wildlife officials have said the giant waves that killed over 24,000 people along the Indian Ocean island"s coast clearly 3 wild beasts, with no dead animals found.
"No elephants are dead, not 4 a dead rabbit. I think animals can 5 disaster. They have a sixth sense. They know when things are happening," H. D. Ratnayake, deputy director of Sri Lanka"s Wildlife Department, said about one month after the tsunami attack. The 6 washed floodwaters up to 2 miles inland at Yala National Park in the ravaged southeast, Sri Lanka"s biggest wildlife 7 and home to hundreds of wild elephants and several leopards.
"There has been a lot of 8 evidence about dogs barking or birds migrating before volcanic eruptions or earthquakes. But it has not been proven," said Matthew van Lierop, an animal behavior 9 at Johannesburg Zoo.
"There have been no 10 studies because you can"t really test it in a lab or field setting," he told Reuters. Other authorities concurred with this 11 .
"Wildlife seem to be able to pick up certain 12 , especially birds... there are many reports of birds detecting impending disasters," said Clive Walker, who has written several books on African wildlife.
Animals 13 rely on the known senses such as smell or hearing to avoid danger such as predators.
The notion of an animal "sixth sense"—or 14 other mythical power is an enduring one which the evidence on Sri Lanka"s ravaged coast is likely to add to.
The Romans saw owls 15 omens of impending disaster and many ancient cultures viewed elephants as sacred animals endowed with special power or attributes.