Don’t pet the killer bunny
QUESTION The cute-looking sea bunny is a toxic sea slug. What other seemingly benign creatures are dangerous?
The sea bunny is a one-inch-long Jorunna parva sea slug found throughout the Indo-Pacific Ocean. Though popular images show them as white with black spots, they are often yellow or orange.
Their ‘furry’ coat is formed by bundles of tiny rods called caryophyllidia. Some are black, which gives a speckled appearance.
The sea bunny’s ‘ears’ are sensory organs called rhinophores that detect chemicals in the water.
The sea bunny belongs to a group called dorid nudibranchs, shell-less gastropod molluscs that steal their toxic defences from the sponges they eat. The colours they display are a signal to predators they are highly venomous.
Other colourful creatures that are highly poisonous include the greater blue-ringed octopus, puffer fish and poison dart frog.
A cute but potentially deadly group of animals are the slow lorises. These wideeyed, nocturnal primates in the forests of South and South-east Asia may look like cuddly toys but have a bite laced with venom powerful enough to rot flesh.
Debbie Taylor, Southampton.
The greater blue-ringed octopus (Hapalochlaena lunulata) lives in tidal pools and coral reefs in the Pacific and Indian oceans, feeding on crustaceans and other small sea animals. They are 8 in across at the most and are shy, docile creatures.
But it is one of the most venomous creatures on the planet. An adult carries enough neurotoxins to kill 26 humans.
The result of a bite is severe, causing paralysis, followed by blindness, cardiac arrest and death. Fortunately, bites from the octopi are rare, as local people are aware of their lethal reputation.
Angus Gafraidh, London E11.
QUESTION What Victorian words and sayings have we lost?
There is a fantastic book called Passing english Of The Victorian era: A Dictionary Of heterodox english Slang And Phrase (1909), by James redding Ware. he usually wrote detective novels under the name Andrew Forrester, but was fascinated by language. Of the hundreds of entries, here are my favourites: Alderman hung in chains: A fat turkey decked with garlands of sausages. Alexandra limp: ‘An affected manner of walking adopted by ladies mimicking the Princess of Wales after she’d had some trouble with her knee.’ All his buttons on: Not to be deceived. Argol-bargol: To have a row. Bags o’ mystery: Sausages. Batty-fang: To thrash thoroughly. Beetroot mug: A red-faced man. Been to Bible class: A gentleman who has received two black eyes in a fight. Black silk barges: ‘Stout women who should avoid barn dances.’ Cabobbled: Bewildered or perplexed. Cackle tub: A pulpit. Captain MacLuffer: Sudden loss of memory on stage. Church bell: Talkative woman. Damfino: Short for ‘Damned if I know’. Don’t sell me a dog: Don’t lie. Door knocker: Type of beard ‘formed by the cheeks and chin being shaved, leaving a chain of hair under the chin and upon each side of the mouth, forming with the moustache something like a door knocker.’ enthuzimuzzy: Satirical reference to enthusiasm. Fly rink: Polished bald head. Gal sneaker: Man devoted to seduction. Gas pipes: Tight trousers. Gigglemug: habitually smiling face. Got the morbs: Temporary melancholy. half-rats: Partially intoxicated. Jammiest bits of jam: ‘Absolutely perfect young females.’
Mad as hops: excitable. Mafficking: Get rowdy in the streets. Mind the grease: Let me pass. Mutton shunter: Policeman. Nanty narking: Drunken fun. Not up to dick: Not well. Orf chump: No appetite. Parish pick-axe: Prominent nose. Podsnappery: A person with a ‘wilful determination to ignore the objectionable or inconvenient, at the same time assuming airs of superior virtue and noble resignation.’ Sauce box: Mouth. Smothering a parrot: Drinking a glass of absinthe neat. Suggestionise: To prompt. Take the egg: To win. Whooperups: ‘Inferior, noisy singers.’
Charles Graham, Nottingham.
QUESTION The Philippines was a colony of Spain for four centuries, so why isn’t Spanish widely spoken?
The Spanish colonial period in the Philippines began when explorer Ferdinand Magellan came to the islands in 1521 and ended with the Philippine revolution in 1898.
When Spain sent missionaries to convert the colony, they discovered the archipelago was populated by more that 100 different ethnic groups each with their own language. They learned the most commonly spoken languages, Tagalog and Cebuano.
Spanish was taught to the middle classes. The Cervantes Institute, Spain’s language and cultural agency, estimated that at the beginning of the 20th century, 60 per cent of Filipinos used Spanish as a second language.
The Philippines — along with Cuba, Guam and Puerto rico — came under U.S. rule following its victory in the 1898 Spanish-American War. U.S. policy demanded compulsory education for all Filipinos in english, and was hostile to Spanish and local languages.
In 1987, Spanish was de-listed as a coofficial language in the Philippines. The official languages are english and Filipino, a standardised version of Tagalog.
Just 0.5 per cent of the Philippines’ 110 million population speak Spanish.
M. K. Knowles, St Andrews, Fife.
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