Monday, June 11, 2012

Featured Creature: The Wheel Spider

In the spirit of the upcoming Summer Olympics, I've chosen a talented acrobatic animal... the wheel spider!

Also known as the Golden Wheel Spider or the Dancing White Lady Spider, this little creature has developed quite a defense mechanism to escape it's enemy - the parasitic pompilid wasp. These spiders do not build webs, instead they burrow in the sand. If this technique fails, and the spider is unable to fight the wasp off, it will cartwheel away at speeds of up to 1 meter per second! It's pretty amazing...take a look:


* Special shout out to Websta for informing me about this eight-legged friend! :) *

1 comment:

  1. yay! I thought he was pretty dang awesome if I do say so myself! :D

    I really hope you see one in real life...that would be sa-weet!

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