Starship Asterisk*

Yeah, but at least it's not

I had posted an ichthyology thread at some point... I might have been the only one to find the video contained to be funny, however.

That's the problem with ichthyology. There's always something with an ich that you just can't seem to be able to scratch

More Stuff about spiders from the BBC. Anything from The biggest single web found thus far(25m), to who knows what. You can really get lost in the links to links to links on the web.
This one hangs out over a river.

Spider Silk Spun into Violin Strings.
Article and 50 second audio of spider strings being played on a violin. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17232058

What a fantastic spider! Wow!!!

Ann

Jumping spiders, completely amazing even if you can't see their retinas moving within their translucent bodies.

You mean that spider is semi-translucent???

Fantastic creature. There were some other amazing spiders whose videos were suggested to us after the end of this one.

But I'd rather admire these spiders on videos than meet a really big one - say, as big as you hand - in real life.

Ann

Those are the most cuddly* ones, though. The tarantulas I've found were all fine to crawl on my hand and allow me to carry them for a little while. They're so slow and docile it makes me wonder how they catch prey. It's important not to drop them though because a fall from hand height is most likely deadly.

* Excluding Australia

That sequence was so bizarrely choreographed and unnatural.

What do you expect from a big name like National Geographic?

Poor bee!!! Then again... it's a good thing there are spiders to catch some of all those insects.

Ann

To be, or not to be. For this bee, tis not the question anymore.

I would say this claim is dubious because there are a lot of dubious claims about spiders on the 'net, but spiders really are very crafty with their webs so this sounds plausible...

Spider at my girlfriend's parents house, in their garage. Apparently it decided it wanted to build its web in the middle of the arch and needed something to counter balance it from the bottom. So, this clever spider grabbed a rock, dragged it up to the web, and suspended it from the bottom.

More pics: http://imgur.com/a/drlvl

geckzilla wrote:I would say this claim is dubious because there are a lot of dubious claims about spiders on the 'net, but spiders really are very crafty with their webs so this sounds plausible...

Dubious, indeed. If so, I don't think the behavior has been observed before. After considering the material properties of spider silk - high elasticity and ductility, the structure of orb webs - mooring threads constructed with ten times the tension of radial threads... and visiting with my buddy Occam, I'm going with the supposition that this mooring thread was originally attached to a small rock on the ground, which was broken away from a mild adhesion by something hitting the web, or by water causing it to contract. That lifted the rock off the ground and left it suspended.

I definitely don't think the spider hauled the rock up and then dropped it down from the web. It's just too much heavy lifting and as you said, not a previously observed behavior. I was thinking it could have dropped down in search of an attachment point, attached a web strand to the rock, and then pulled it up in an attempt to create some tension in the line. The small rock just happened to be small enough that the desired tension was not created even while the rock was being lifted. At some point the spider stopped trying and the rock was left in suspension.

This is a nutty little spider.

Wasp mimic jumping spider (Orsima ichneumon) - ESC_0067 by nickybay, on Flickr

Spider Versus Snake

Anyone know what kind of spider this was?
I really don't like them hinding in places like that!

http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/ ... us_image9/

Imagine putting down the visor of your car because the sun is in your eyes have having one of these drop in your lap?

How could anyone identify a spider from a blurry video? I feel bad for the spider, though. Humans are a bunch of wimps.

geckzilla wrote:How could anyone identify a spider from a blurry video? I feel bad for the spider, though. Humans are a bunch of wimps.

Really. You've got this overweight slob with a giant stick poking at the thing, not even smart enough to know how to take a proper video. Shame he didn't get bit... he had it coming.

Chris Peterson wrote:Really. You've got this overweight slob with a giant stick poking at the thing, not even smart enough to know how to take a proper video. Shame he didn't get bit... he had it coming.

Jees – guess I'm not the only one who infers without knowing all the facts.

I'm not sure how I would get a spider out of a car door handle if I was lucky enough notice it there (or dumb enough to put it there to make a video). I probably would use a stick too if I couldn't identify its type rather than risk getting bit (for the former) and wouldn't do (the latter) because I don't like spiders.

My intention was to evoke emotion from spiders that crawl into unsuspecting places not to elicit "gut" reactions. Being overweight doesn't determine slobishness. It, like snobbishness, is a human trait spiders avoid. I would hope moderators would try to limit it on this site.

And any astrophotographer should realize you work with what you got at the time – skill, knowledge and equipment. Then try to improve.

Ron, maybe Chris went too far with the personal insults against the guy filming it, but that video is horrible. It's a small animal trying to hide being poisoned by two people who are scared of it. Watching it slowly suffer and struggle to crawl away may delight and entertain some people but to me it's just painful and sad to watch. Spiders have such a disproportionately bad reputation for the potential harm they can inflict it's ridiculous. We keep dogs, cats, and toddlers by our sides but we're many more times likely to receive disfiguring or even life-threatening (due to infection) bites from these larger animals than we are spiders.

Ron-Astro Pharmacist wrote:

• 10 most dangerous spiders in Australia

Imagine putting down the visor of your car because the sun is in your eyes have having one of these drop in your lap?

• Spiders 'rain' down in Australian town
  http://time.com/3882445/raining-spiders-australia/