Daily Mail - 30.07.2019

Page 60

QUESTIONS

STYLISH canape

that’s simple to

make. Serves: 6.

Do spiders

enjoy a dip?

Compiled by Charles Legge

TODAY’S RECIPE:

Crab, lime & chilli toasts

Method

QUESTION

Can tarantulas

swim?

Several tarantula species have been
shown to be able to swim in the wild and
captivity. But this is almost always
because it has been chased or has fallen
into water accidentally.
Those most prone to such accidents are
arboreal tarantulas living in trees over-
hanging lakes or rivers, and burrowing
tarantulas that live on flood plains or
have been flushed out by a flash flood.
These spiders do not have sophisticated
swimming mechanisms, like those of
habitually swimming spiders, such as the
species of water spiders, Argyronetidae,
or those that hunt on the water’s surface
such as the fishing spiders, Dolomedes.
Their swimming ability appears to be a
secondary evolutionary adaptation.
Spiders’ bodies have excellent water-
proofing, with a waxy outermost layer.
In swimming tarantulas, this is
combined with a layer of air trapped by
the dense coat of hairs (setae) on the
legs, which enables the spiders to skitter
over surfaces.
Most tarantulas probably never need to
swim, but it is clear that if they must,
they have the behavioural ability to do
so. That said, a couple of species are
known to be excellent swimmers.
The giant baboon spider, Hysterocrates
gigas, is a member of the tarantula family
(Theraphosidae) found in Cameroon.
They can trap air and submerge for up to
two hours and have been documented
catching and eating small fish.
In 2006, a cluster of 25,000 tarantulas
were found near the small town of
Maningrida in the Northern Territory of
australia. Their precise species name has
yet to be determined.
These burrow-dwelling spiders are
known locally as diving tarantulas
because they create enveloping air
bubbles to survive when the plain is
underwater during the wet season.
Dr Ian Smith, Cambridge.

QUESTION

Why do the names
of so many shapes,
such as decagon, hexagon, octagon
and pentagon, end with ‘... gon’?

TheSe examples of two-dimensional
shapes are known generically as polygons.
The term is derived from the Greek words

polus (many) and gonia (corners or

angles). The corners and angles give an

indication of the number of sides, which

is generally used when describing the

structure of polygons.

The nomenclature usually follows the

pattern of a Greek prefix, followed by the

suffix term gon.

The simplest polygons are the triangle

(three sides) and quadrilateral (four

sides), though other terms for these are

trigon and tetragon respectively.

The nomenclature ruling is generally

used from the five-sided polygon, the

pentagon, onwards.

But as the number of sides increases, it

is not uncommon to use the number of

sides as a prefix (eg 23-gon is a polygon

with 23 sides).

The most extreme example is the

apeirogon, which is a polygon with an

infinite number of sides.

Alan Goldsmith,

Connahs Quay, Flintshire.

QUESTION

What is the story

of the Parsley

Massacre in the Dominican Republic?

The legacy of the Parsley Massacre

remains a source of tension between

haiti and the Dominican republic, the

two countries on the island of hispaniola

between the atlantic Ocean and

Caribbean Sea.

Its roots go back to 1492 when Christo-

pher Columbus ‘discovered’ the island.

The native people were decimated as a

wave of european colonisation ensued

and many enslaved africans were

imported to toil in sugar plantations.

By 1777, the island had become divided

between a Spanish-controlled east and a

French-controlled West. a mass slave

revolt won haiti its independence from

France in 1804, becoming the world’s

first black republic. The Dominican

republic became independent after

overthrowing haitian rule of eastern

hispaniola and later Spanish and

american colonialism.

Despite the nations’ long, shared and

collaborative history, many Dominican

elites saw haiti as a racial threat that

imperilled political and commercial

relations with white Western nations.

In the years following World War I, the

U.S. occupied both parts of hispaniola in

order to secure power in the Western

hemisphere by destroying local opposi-

tion and installing U.S.-friendly govern-

ments. The brutal and racist occupation

influenced later events.

In 1930, liberal Dominican President

horacio vasquez was overthrown by the

chief of his army, rafael Trujillo.

Despite being a quarter haitian himself,

Trujillo saw the presence of a bicultural

haitian and Dominican borderland as a

threat to his power.

In 1937, claiming to be protecting

Dominican farmers from theft and

incursion, he announced the killing of 300

haitians along the border and promised

this ‘remedy’ would continue.

Thousands were murdered under

Trujillo’s orders within a few weeks. The

Dominican military were told to target

black haitians, though because many

Dominicans were also dark-skinned, some

accounts say that to distinguish the

residents of one country from the other,

soldiers forced their victims to say the

Spanish word for ‘parsley’.

Dominicans pronounced it ‘perejil’,

with a trilled Spanish ‘r’. The primary

haitian language, however, was Kreyol,

which doesn’t use a trilled ‘r’. So if people

struggled to say ‘perejil’ they were judged

to be haitian and immediately killed.

recent scholarship suggests tests such

as this were not the sole factor used to

determine who would be murdered as

many border residents were bilingual.

Bodies were thrown in ravines, dumped

in rivers or burned to dispose of the

evidence and — because of this — no one

knows exactly how many were killed.

The extent of the carnage was clear,

and noted by the U.S. ambassador to the

Dominican republic at the time.

Trujillo was condemned internationally,

but neither he nor anyone in his govern-

ment was ever punished.

The Parsley Massacre remains a chilling

reminder of how power-hungry leaders

can manipulate people into turning

against their lifelong neighbours.

Emilie Lamplough, Trowbridge, Wilts.

O IS THERE a question to which you have always wanted to know the

answer? Or do you know the answer to a question raised here? Send

your questions and answers to: Charles Legge, Answers To

Correspondents, Daily Mail, 2 Derry Street, London, W8 5TT. You can

also fax them to 01952 780111 or you can email them to charles.legge@

dailymail.co.uk. A selection will be published but we are not able to

enter into individual correspondence.

: Why is money extorted by the

mafia called a ‘pizzo’?

Laura Smith, Wendover, Bucks.

: Does eating large amounts of soy

cause a dip in testosterone levels?

Brian Ingham, Ombersley, Worcs.

: If space is a vacuum, why

doesn’t it suck in the air from the

Earth’s atmosphere?

Edward Spence, Doncaster, S. Yorks.

Q

Q

Q

Ingredients

Front crawl: A red-knee tarantula

1 small baguette, cut

into 12 slices

2 tbsp olive oil

140g white crabmeat

1 red chilli, deseeded

and finely chopped

1 tbsp coriander,

chopped

Zest and juice 1 lime

1 Heat oven to 200c/180c fan/gas 6. Put

baguette slices onto a baking tray, drizzle over

half the oil, add seasoning, then bake for five

minutes until golden at edges.

2 Meanwhile, mix crabmeat, chilli, coriander,

lime zest and juice with remaining oil and

seasoning. Spoon on top of toast just before

you serve.

O RECIPE of the Day brought to you in association

with BBC Good Food Magazine. Subscribe today and

get your first five issues for £5 (direct debit). Visit

buysubscriptions.com/goodfood and enter code

GFDAILY19 or call 03330 162 124 and quote GFDAILY19.

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(^) Daily Mail, Tuesday, July 30, 2019