Reading - Part 1

Read the text. Fill in each gap with ONE word. You must use a word which is somewhere in the rest of the text.

Elephants sense 'danger' clothes

St Andrews University researchers discovered that elephants could recognise the degree of danger posed by various groups of individuals. The study found that African elephants always reacted with fear when they detected the smell of clothes previously worn by men of the Maasai tribe. They are known to demonstrate their courage by spearing (1). The elephants also responded aggressively to red clothing, which defines traditional Maasai dress. However, the elephants showed a much milder reaction to (2) previously worn by the Kamba people, who do not hunt elephants and pose little threat. The (3) first presented elephants with clean, red clothing and with red clothing that had been worn for five days by either a Maasai or a (4) man. They revealed that Maasai-smelt clothing motivated elephants to travel significantly faster in the first minute after they moved away. They then investigated whether elephants could also use the colour of clothing as a cue to classify a potential threat and found the elephants (5) with aggression when they spotted red but not white cloth. This suggested that they associated the colour red with the Maasai. The researchers believe the distinction in the elephants' emotional reaction to smell and (6) might be explained by the amount of risk they sense. They might be able to distinguish among different human groups according to the level of risk they posed.