On Nephila Clavipes.
Do you remember the post I made a while ago about the spiders with golden silk which have colonized my patio?
Of course you do! It was a rhetorical questions.
Well, imagine my surprise when I saw them in an Animal Planet show!
Their name? Nephila clavipes, or golden silk orb-weavers. They say that they are natives from South America, from the Ecuadorian jungles: no, I have no idea how they ended on my patio. It seems that their spiderweb have a high tensile strength-to-weight ratio, higher than kevlar, and that is why they are being studied to duplicate the proteins they produce.
I can testify about how strong these webs are: I have found is easier to cut them off that try to remove them using a broom. :)
And yes, they are still in my patio: my father tried to evict them, but they fought back and bite him. :D
Of course you do! It was a rhetorical questions.
Well, imagine my surprise when I saw them in an Animal Planet show!
Their name? Nephila clavipes, or golden silk orb-weavers. They say that they are natives from South America, from the Ecuadorian jungles: no, I have no idea how they ended on my patio. It seems that their spiderweb have a high tensile strength-to-weight ratio, higher than kevlar, and that is why they are being studied to duplicate the proteins they produce.
I can testify about how strong these webs are: I have found is easier to cut them off that try to remove them using a broom. :)
And yes, they are still in my patio: my father tried to evict them, but they fought back and bite him. :D