It’s a whale sized snack
QUESTION How do whales get rid of all the water they swallow when eating prey? Can they drown?
RORQUAL whales are the largest group of baleen whales, a family that includes humpbacks and blue whales — the largest mammals on Earth.
They have a remarkable way of catching their prey called lunge-feeding. The whale accelerates to a high velocity and then opens its mouth to a wide angle.
This generates the water pressure required to engulf and filter a huge amount of water and fish.
They have a special elastic tissue attached to their mandible (lower jaw) called ventral groove blubber. During a lunge, the drag force on this blubber causes it to expand to encompass a huge volume of water, up to 90 tonnes in the case of the blue whale.
The whale’s tongue plays a crucial role. When a rorqual lunges near a school of krill, which are small crustaceans, the tongue is pushed towards the bottom of the mouth and, under pressure, is turned back on itself like the finger of a glove. This forms a pocket that can hold water and blocks the oesophagus to prevent water being swallowed.
After the lunge, the tongue and ventral grooves return to their original position and water is quickly pushed out of the mouth through the baleen, which are filter-like structures that capture krill.
A baleen whale uses its huge tongue (which weighs up to 2.7 tons in a blue whale) for moving food trapped inside the baleen, squeezing water out of the mouth and swallowing.
Whales and dolphins are mammals and breathe air into their lungs through nostrils, called a blowhole, located on top of their head.
This adaptation allows them to take breaths by exposing just the top of their head to the air while they are swimming or resting under the water.
After each breath, the blowhole is sealed tightly by the strong muscles that surround it. Some species of whale have been recorded diving underwater for up to 90 minutes before resurfacing for air.
A whale can drown if it becomes stuck in water that is not deep enough to allow it to swim, but covers the blowhole and prevents it from breathing.
If dolphins are unable to reach the surface because of fishing nets, they may panic and dive deeper, where they will be unable to breathe and suffocate.
Alan Beneden, Bangor, Gwynedd.
QUESTION What is a Bedfordshire clanger? What other county dishes are there?
POPULAR since the 1800s, the Bedfordshire or Hertfordshire clanger is a long suet crust or shortcrust dumpling.
It takes its name from the old word clangy, meaning heavy or cl ose - textured, since it is usually crammed full of liver (or pork) and onion, or bacon with potatoes, seasoned with sage. Recipes vary from area to area.
Today, the originally savoury clanger is occasionally given an added sweet filling of jam or fruit at one end and is humorously known as a half and half.
The clanger was a popular lunch for farmworkers eaten cold or wrapped in a moistened newspaper and warmed over a fire. Two hundred years after its creation, it is still sold in local bakeries and cafes.
Almost every county in Britain has its name linked to a speciality dish. Some are well- known, such as Yorkshire puddings, Lancashire hotpot, Cumberland sausages and Cheshire cheese.
Others are l ess f amiliar, such as Berkshire hog and Suffolk spinach soup.
Ian MacDonald, Billericay, Essex.
BEFORE World War I, my paternal grandfather, Ernest Munday, worked on the land in Bedfordshire. His daily repast was a clanger with mostly veg and a small amount of meat at one end, and fruit at the other.
My gran used to make him a two-quart earthenware flagon of tea. This would be stuck in the dung heap to keep warm.
Grandad did time in Bedford Gaol for ‘armed trespass in pursuit of coney’. This was a time when rabbits were a major pest! He went on to serve King and Country, was injured, recovered and went back to fight.
Jim Munday, Shotley, Suffolk.
LANCASHIRE hotpot was widely popularised on Coronation Street where barmaid Betty Williams sold her version in the Rovers Return. Down south we have Eton Mess, a dessert created at Eton College, the Cornish pasty and Cornish and Devon cream teas.
Scotland gave us the fruity Dundee cake and Angus beef. There’s Welsh rarebit, Lincoln’s famous sausage and the scrumptious Bakewell tart from the Peak District.
My favourite, which I discovered when filming an episode of Crimewatch UK re-enacting a break-in at the Clive museum in Powis, is the Shrewsbury biscuit.
Danny Darcy, Reading, Berks.
QUESTION When mayor Andy Burnham described Manchester as a canary in a coalmine, did he use the expression correctly? Where does it come from?
A FURTHER word on the use of canaries i n coalmines. They were f ar more susceptible to harmful mine gases than humans. A male canary sings to attract a mate. In the presence of mining gases, it falls off its perch.
By law, collieries had to keep canaries on site in case of an accident. Behind the Doncaster Mines Rescue Headquarters was an aviary where canaries were bred to supply Doncaster and Barnsley.
The last incident I attended was due to a firedamp explosion and fire on a long wall coal face in the fenton Seam at Grimethorpe colliery in the early 1980s. A canary was present at all times at the fresh air base where rescue workers donned their breathing apparatus.
When the area had been sealed off, the colliery had to be evacuated for 48 hours. Returning to the surface, it was discovered we had left the canary behind. When we returned after 48 hours, on its first sight of light, the canary began to sing.
George Watts, Doncaster, S. Yorks.
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