ANTS AND THE WEATHER
The weather man has been in a position of extreme delicacy of late, poised as it were between the necessity of giving fair warning of rain, and the need to avoid undue alarm when the conditions upon which he has based his forecasts are not very definite. One prophet who won some renown among his friends in accurately forecasting rain, eventually gave away the secret of his success. He had watched the ants, and whenever these busy little insects built a wall of earth around the entrance to their nests, he knew that rain was coming. The higher the walls, the more imminent or the heavier the rain. Recently, however, he was puzzled, because while some nests had ramparts, others llad not. Light showers only followed, those nests where water might accumulate temporarily being protected while others on high ground were not. Before a stormy season, he said, the ants built very high, thick walls of material so spongy that they absorbed enough water to saturate them, after which no more water oassed through them however fiercely it rained.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/SUNAK19270511.2.177.24
Bibliographic details
Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 41, 11 May 1927, Page 14
Word Count
183ANTS AND THE WEATHER Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 41, 11 May 1927, Page 14
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