Science Week Ireland: Humpback whales don't need telephones - and the broadband revolution certainly wouldn't impress them. They can talk to each other over a thousand miles across the Atlantic, an enthralled group of young visitors heard at Galway's Atlantaquaria in Salthill yesterday.
And hear it they did, when wildlife consultant Vincent Hyland used his guitar, green bottleneck slide and a special-effects sound system to demonstrate what he meant. Hands over their ears, members of his audience squealed with delight as he moved from humpback to blue whale to the sort of dolphin-speak that can be heard off the Atlantic seaboard.
Whale communications formed one part of a busy day linked to marine biology at Atlantaquaria which hosted a family fun day as part of Science Week Ireland.
Earlier yesterday, Hyland had donned mask, wetsuit and flippers as part of his contribution towards national Science Week, when he roused the slumbering angel shark in the aquarium's ocean tank. For many of the visitors, it was the first time that they had witnessed the well-camouflaged angel shark.
A turtle shell also formed part of his repertoire, as he explained the risks posed by spent helium balloons. "When you let one go by accident, it ends up out in the Atlantic," he told his audience. "The turtles see them on the surface, think they are jellyfish, eat them and choke."
Throughout most of yesterday afternoon the Salthill aquarium was alive with excited voices, as ray were tickled, starfish stroked and plankton examined through a microscope.
The plankton were "fresh from the Corrib this morning", Dr Brian Ottway of the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) confirmed.
The aquarium's resident skeleton of a fin whale was also a constant magnet. The 19-year-old beached at Ballyheigue, Co Kerry, in April 1994.
Much of the focus for Science Week Ireland takes place a little later in Galway, as its annual science and technology festival in the middle of November has become a well-established event. This year's Galway festival will be opened on Monday, November 17th, by the Taoiseach. Its school roadshow will include Armagh Planetarium's stardome, mega minibeasts, "mad labs" and one of the US's leading science educators, Walter Rohr.
The Galway Science and Technology festival highlight, which has yet to be confirmed, will be an "international space station" event at the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology. The festival ends with a one-day exhibition at Leisureland and the Galway Bay Hotel, Salthill, on Sunday, November 23rd.