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"surreal" Vegetarian Spider Found -- A First
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» Trey replied on Thu Oct 15, 2009 @ 2:46pm |
 Coolness: 103690 | """Matt Kaplan
for National Geographic News October 12, 2009 A new discovery has taken the bite out of spiders' status as meat-eaters. A tropical jumping spider that eats mostly plant buds has been identified, a new study says—making it the only known vegetarian out of some 40,000 spider species. In the late 1800s, naturalists named the spider Bagheera kiplingi after a panther in British author Rudyard Kipling's 1894 children's book The Jungle Book. "At that time in history, all the [naturalists] had was a tattered dead specimen," said study leader Christopher Meehan, a biologist at the University of Arizona in Tucson. "They had no idea what it ate. But perhaps they knew that jumping spiders were cat-like in their movements, and [they] decided to name the spider after the agile panther Bagheera in Kipling's book." "Utterly Surreal" Spider Between 2001 and 2008, Meehan and colleagues studied the spider in its tropical habitat in southeastern Mexico and northwestern Costa Rica. (Get spider facts.) They observed that the spiders ate nutrient-rich buds that grow on acacia plants. The acacias are also home to a species of ant that live in the plants' hollow thorns. In a classic example of mutualism, the ants protect the plant in return for shelter and food, said Meehan, who conducted the research while at Villanova University in Villanova, Pennsylvania. Yet the fast, stealthy Bagheera has figured out how to leap from thorn to thorn to collect its meal—while avoiding the highly aggressive ants. Though the spider does occasionally snack on ant larvae, the bulk of its diet is plants, Meehan said. "It is utterly surreal," he said, "to see a spider use such effective hunting strategies to hunt a plant." Study published October 12 in the journal Current Biology. " PICTURE 
An adult female Bagheera kiplingi, a kind of jumping spider, eats a plant bud from an acacia tree in 2007. " The agile spider is the first out of about 40,000 known spider species to be almost entirely vegetarian, an October 2009 study says. Photograph by Robert L. Curry """ [ news.nationalgeographic.com ] |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» Screwhead replied on Thu Oct 15, 2009 @ 3:18pm |
 Coolness: 686515 | Christ, next thing you know they're gonna stop bathing and start walking/leaping around with signs that say "FLIES ARE MURDER!" |
| I'm feeling like a drama magnet right now.. | |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» flo replied on Thu Oct 15, 2009 @ 3:50pm |
 Coolness: 147250 | lol
seriously, this species rock :) |
| I'm feeling phd powa !!! right now.. | |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» Deadfunk replied on Mon Oct 19, 2009 @ 8:29am |
 Coolness: 153930 | this is going to get funny, all the hippies are going to quote this saying " see, vegan is the only way, even spiders do it!" while its only 1 kind on 40 000! |
| I'm feeling hardcore right now.. | |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» system_glitch replied on Mon Oct 19, 2009 @ 8:37am |
 Coolness: 163425 | Now you just be hatin... you nazi. |
| I'm feeling toxic right now.. | |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» Screwhead replied on Mon Oct 19, 2009 @ 9:59am |
| Coolness: 686515 | Why don't you go sit under a rainbow and write a poem about it! |
| I'm feeling like a drama magnet right now.. | |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» system_glitch replied on Mon Oct 19, 2009 @ 10:09am |
| Coolness: 163425 | Ouch. |
| I'm feeling toxic right now.. | |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» LeChat replied on Mon Oct 19, 2009 @ 10:30am |
 Coolness: 116460 | so plur |
| I'm feeling princess right now.. | |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» JojoBizarre replied on Mon Oct 19, 2009 @ 10:44am |
 Coolness: 295900 | it's leaking plur from the anus. |
| I'm feeling a ok right now.. | |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» LeChat replied on Mon Oct 19, 2009 @ 11:46am |
| Coolness: 116460 | mmmm... |
| I'm feeling princess right now.. | |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» Gamos replied on Thu Oct 22, 2009 @ 10:52am |
 Coolness: 94420 | aww that spider is adorable. |
| I'm feeling a message in a bottl right now.. | |
"surreal" Vegetarian Spider Found -- A First
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