Sunday, September 16, 2012

Bar coded spider

Resourcefulness; when opportunity knocks, you use whatever you have on hand. Or in hand, as the case may be.

My grandson, at Cougar Creek park, finds a humongous spider ...

And traps her in his chips bag. I don't think she likes lime and black pepper, though.

Sprawled on the bar code, showing her own bar coded under her belly.

A female cross spider, Araneus diadematus, very fat. Probably full of eggs.

We let her go on the damp grass, where she could wipe the lime and pepper off her legs.

4 comments:

  1. Mmmmm, limey pepper spider....

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  2. Maybe she was hoping for BBQ. - Margy

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  3. Very resourceful, and a much better collection method than the one practiced by Darwin: Out beetle collecting one day, he already had a lovely specimen in each hand when he spied a third, unknown species! But he didn't want to give up the beetles he had... In a quandary, he shoved one beetle into his mouth for safe-keeping while reaching for the third. However, the now-semi-ingested beetle, in great alarm, released some foul-tasting compound, causing Darwin to spit out the beetle and, in his consternation and distress, drop the other two as well. --So just as well you stuck with chip bags. :)

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  4. Interesting story, Olivia! I can't imagine putting a beetle in my mouth to hold it. Wriggling legs!

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