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QUESTION If pigs could fly, what would their wingspan be?
The average pig on the market weighs around 135 kg (300 lb), while others can grow up to 410 kg (900 lb).
This puts them in range of the largest known flying animal, a dinosaur called Quetzalcoatlus northropi.
He is believed to have weighed between 300 and 500 pounds (135 kg and 225 kg). She had an estimated wingspan of 30 to 35 feet (9 to 10.5 m).
However, Q. northropi was physically different from a pig. He had hollow bones, was a little shorter than a giraffe, and acted like a giant heron.
We can safely say that a large pig would need a wingspan of 20 to 30 feet (6 to 10 m) to fly.
Quetzalcoatlus northropi dinosaur depicted in the movie Jurassic Park Dominion
Perhaps a better option would be to compare our pig to a light aircraft.
In the late 1960s, American aircraft designer Jim Bede created the Bede BD-5, a small, home-built single-seat aircraft.
This had a weight, when occupied by a pilot, of 500 lb to 600 lb (225 kg to 275 kg), that is, in the range of large pigs.
This aircraft had a wingspan of 21 ft 6 in (6.55 m). We can safely say that a large pig would need a wingspan of 20 to 30 feet (6 to 10 m) to fly, creating a truly strange animal.
Simon Wright, Bristol.
QUESTION Who was the first known “whistleblower”?
Benjamin Franklin exposed confidential letters showing that British-backed Massachusetts Governor Thomas Hutchinson had intentionally misled Parliament (file image)
Whistleblowers are informants who expose criminal acts, corruption, intimidation and harassment.
Some point to the actions of American politician Benjamin Franklin when, in 1773, he exposed confidential letters showing that the British-backed governor of Massachusetts, Thomas Hutchinson, had intentionally misled Parliament to promote a military buildup in the Colonies.
There is some ambiguity about that case, so a better bet might be the acts of American sailors Richard Marven and Samuel Shaw of the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War.
In 1777, they provided evidence that their commander-in-chief, Esek Hopkins, was torturing British prisoners.
The term “whistleblower” emerged in the 19th century and meant “someone who blows a whistle,” a piper, or an authority figure such as a police officer or referee.
It was not until 1974 that the term was defined by American consumer advocate Ralph Nader as “an act of a man or woman who, believing that the public interest prevails over the interest of the organization he serves, blows the whistle that the organization is (engaging) in corrupt, illegal, fraudulent or harmful activities.”
Christine Bowes, London N13.