CHILDREN'S CORNER

There are twenty species of whales, but there is only one with a horn – the Narwhal found in Arctic Region. This single twisting horn is found among the male of the species and are about three metres long. Narwhal whales are generally found in the seas surrounding Greenland and Baffin Island.
Biologists believe that the tusk of the Narwhal whale is a long tooth. The male and the female of the species have a single pair of teeth. However, in the male, one tooth grows out through the upper lip to form the tusk. Some Narwhals have two tusks but they are very rarely sighted.
Narwhals prey on cuttlefish, squid and crustaceans, which are grabbed with the hard edges of their powerful jaws and are swallowed at one go.
What purpose does the Narwhal’s tusk serve? Biologists do not have ready answers. Some believe them to be only of decorative value, whereas other believe that this tusk is used to bore holes in the Arctic ice to enable it to breathe. Over the years, evidence has been gathered that these animals use their tusks as weapons, while fighting another of their species for the possession of a female.
When Eskimos catch the animal for its meat they eat its skin raw for they believe it to be a rich source of Vitamin C, and serves as an excellent leather that comes in handy in the cold weather.
Legend has it that Narwhal tusks were highly prized in Europe until a century ago for people believed that the tusks had the ability to detect poisons and make them useless. Food that was believed to contain poison was put in a cup made from the tusk of the Narwhal, and if cup changed color, it was a sure warning that the food contained a lethal substance that was designed to kill other people. And, for that reason the Narwhals were almost hunted to extinction. Since then, the people of Europe have become wiser and banned the hunting of the Narwhals. However, it is advised that if anyone sights a Narwhal with a tusk they should stay away from its path, for you will never know that the animal may believe you to be an enemy, where the hunter will become the hunted!

Rameez was a football-crazy boy. Most often he would be found kicking a ball either around a garden or against the garden compound wall. The only place his mom would not let him do this was in the street opposite their house. They lived in a short street at the top of a hill and she feared that the ball would run onto the busy road at the end of the street. Rameez couldn’t understand why his mom was so worried. After all, if the ball went onto the road it couldn’t do much harm, could it? However, most of the time he obeyed his mom. He only kicked it along the street occasionally when he was on his way to the park.
One day, you guessed it right, he kicked the ball too hard and as it flew across the road he ran after it. Suddenly there was a squeal of brakes and he dived to one side landing painfully on his arm. Then there was a great bang as a car swerved around him and crashed into a van parked at the side of the road. The crash must have damaged the van’s hand brake and the van began to roll backwards down the hill. As it hurtled down, the incoming traffic had to swerve out of the way. This led to several cars crashing into cars parked at the side of the road. Two of them smashed through garden fences, a bus full of passengers crashed through a wall and ended up in someone’s front garden.
By now the van, hurtling down the road at a tremendous speed was tearing towards a bend at the bottom of the road. As it reached the bend it shot between two parked cars, mounted the pavement and with a great crash and a shower of glass buried itself in the butchers shop window. For a moment there was silence while the dust settled, then there was a whoosh as the leaking petrol ignited and the van burst into flames. Luckily, it was Wednesday afternoon, the shop was closed and the fire station was nearby.
At the top of the hill Rameez held onto his arm as he looked down open mouthed at disaster his ball had caused and understood why his mom insisted that he should never play with his ball in the street. The fire brigade arrived and put out the fire, the paramedics came in their ambulance and checked everyone out and the only one hurt was Rameez, who had broken his arm and had to be admitted into a hospital. Later with his arm in plaster he was questioned by the police, reprimanded for his unruly behaviour off and told never ever to kick his ball in the street again. The damage that the ball had caused took nearly a week to be repaired while the debris lay there for a month.