In the year 2008 a terrible earthquake struck China.
The seismograph was invented in China nineteen centuries ago, but no machine warned what was coming.
What raised the alarm were the animals. Scientists paid them no heed, but, starting a few days before the catastrophe, hordes of crazed toads took off in every direction, hopping wildly across the streets of Guiyang and other cities, while in the Wuhan zoo tigers roared, peacocks screeched and elephants and zebras threw themselves against the bars of their cages.
12 May, Eduardo Galeano, Children of the days, A calendar of human history