Comments

  1. moarscienceplz says

    [Iliana being given a tour of a friend’s house] “Where does your grandpa do his spiders?”

  2. Die Anyway says

    Ha! Reminds me of some group hikes when a snake is spotted. Some of the group screams and jumps back, some just shudder and step back, and I rush forward to get a good look and try to identify it.
    In my area the most commonly seen is the black racer but a close second is the rattlesnake. It’s about 50/50 between pygmy and diamondback.

  4. StevoR says

    @ ^ birgerjohansson : Afraid I hadn’t heard of or seen him that I can recall. Wikichecks : Hmm.. not sure what to think there except he obviosuly had a very hard start to life, very long career and the murder of Bonnie Lee Bakley raises a lot of tragic questions.

    @3. Die Anyway : We get mainly Brown snakes* and Red-Bellied Black snakes** here. Not worried too much about them for myself knowing that to them we are seen (sniffed? Tasted? Felt?) as predators not prey and they don’t want to waste their precious venom on us unless forced to but a big concern for dogs. If encountered, which has happened a few times including many years ago seeing a Red-bellied Black swimming in a local creek, I stand still & leave them be with respect and admiration mingled. Making sure any dog I’m with is safe and leaving them be too.

    .***

    Spiders stacked up everywhere.

    Stacking spiders certainly evokes a rather comical mental image for me anyhow. I can’t imagine them staying still or letting themselves stay stacked for long tho’ sure that’s not what you meant here!

    As for finding new species, we are indeed as this :

    https://freethoughtblogs.com/oceanoxia/2023/03/08/terrifying-dive-in-antarctic-lake-reveals-bizarre-ancient-life/

    Via Abe Drayton’s Oceanoxia blog noted recently.

    .* See : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_brown_snake

    .** See : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-bellied_black_snake