My favorite animal-weather prognosticator was Dr. Merryweather. A physician with that name could hardly have helped but dabbling in weather prediction. Dr. Merryweather unveiled his “storm warning system” during Britain’s Great Exhibition of 1851. This system was a jar with 12 leeches and a small bell that would ring when the leeches became active. I have yet to learn the details of the bell ringing. Dr. Merryweather politicked the British Government to set up his leech, storm-warning systems all along the coast. It is believed that Dr. Merryweather got his idea from Spanish writings of the mid-1700s. With a 24-hour lead-time, the Spanish leeches would give one of 9 warnings.
While leeches have lost their historic luster in recent decades, modern animalistic prognosticators now favor insects. “They are totally non-thinking minicomputers whose every action or reaction throughout their brief existence is predetermined. Think of how much fore absolute an entomologist can be than a human behavioral psychologist, and how much more dependable a weather prediction based on insect behavior can be than one based on the individualized behavior of humans, or even sows” Source: A. Lee (1976) weather wisdom, Doubleday.
If bloodsucker fail you and you are in dire need of a storm forecast, watch for mist over you asses’ manger for it will indicate a tempest. This last one comes from Theophrastus’ work De Signis Aqyarum et ventotrum became rare. Some say that mangers are, today, far more rare than asses.