#Funnel-web Spiders: Families, Bites & Other Facts Funnel-web spiders are spiders that build funnel-shaped webs
which they use as burrows or to trap prey. Three distinct spider families are known popularly as funnel-web spiders.
Spiders in the Agelenidae Dipluridae and Hexathelidae families all build funnel-shaped webs but that is where their similarities end.
Agelenidae spiders also called funnel weavers live throughout the world including North america. They build funnel-shaped webs between two braces such as branches or grass blades.
In general their bites are not harmful to humans. A possible exception is the hobo spider
but scientists are extremely unsure if this species is poisonous or not. Hexathelidae spiders live in Australia
and their funnel webs are lined really burrows with silk These spiders have a dangerous bite. Two well-known species of Hexathelidae are the Sydney funnel spider and the northern tree funnel spider;
both are shortlisted often for the Most Deadly Spider in the World title. Spiders in the Dipluridae family are commonly known as funnel-web tarantulas.
Their funnel webs are rather messy. Most of these spiders live in the tropics of Central and South america but they are found worldwide including Australia Africa and Central asia.
There are more than 1200 species of agelenids found worldwide. About 100 are in North america. Members of one North american genus Agelenopsis are referred commonly to as grass spiders.
Appearance Agelenids are sized medium for arachnids about 4 to 20 millimeters long. They are usually grey or brown with spots on their backs and banded legs.
Their eight eyes are arranged in two rows. Behavior Like most species of spiders funnel weavers are nocturnal.
They are known to flee from light. They typically live for less than a year dying in the cold weather.
In warmer places they can live for two years. Males spend most of their time wandering in search of a mate
though they usually die after they mate a few times. Females rarely leave their webs. They typically lay several egg sacs and cover them in webbing for protection.
Funnel spiders lay eggs in the fall and the spiderlings hatch in the spring. Dead female spiders are often found clinging to the egg sac.
Web Residents of grassy areas will recognize the funnel webs scattered in the grass during the summer and early fall.
Webs are seen also often in the corners of porches or in the cracks of shingles (anywhere there is a crevice for them to build a funnel web inside).
Prey don t get caught in the funnel which functions as a retreat for the spider to hide in
while it waits for prey to come. Instead prey gets caught in a large sheet web that surrounds the funnel s entrance.
Depending on the species the sheet web may or may not be sticky but either way prey gets caught in its slippery or sticky surface.
The spider calmly waits calmly in its funnel until it feels the sheet web vibrate as prey gets caught in it.
The spider which has no problem walking on the web then runs out and bites its victim.
In Europe and North america in the 17th and 18th centuries their webs were used often for bandages.
These spiders typically eat insects though they have been known to eat other spiders. There are about 40 species of hexathelidae in Australia
and while not all of them are poisonous the Sydney funnel spider and the tree-dwelling venomous biters have garnered deadly reputations in the Land Down Under.
Appearance These funnel spiders are sized medium getting up to about one inch and are typically black or brown.
They are distinguished by their shiny carapace (hard covering over the front of the body) which is haired lightly.
Males are smaller than females. Behavior These mostly nocturnal spiders can be found at any time of the year.
They prefer humid climates as they are susceptible to drying out. During the summer males leave their burrows
and go wandering for females. The two spiders spar until the female accepts the male.
To mate they rear up on their hind legs and press their bodies together. They also assume this rearing position when threatened.
The female spider lays her eggs in her burrow. Once they hatch the young spiders stay in the burrow until they are big enough to leave.
Males only live for a few months after mating but females can live for several years (some reports say up to 20).
Burrowers Funnel spiders pick moist and sheltered places to build their burrows like under rocks or logs or in shrubbery.
The entrance to the burrow is surrounded by irregular strands of silk which act as trip wires alerting the spider hiding in the burrow that prey is present.
The spider then goes out and attacks. These spiders usually eat insects or small vertebrates like lizards or frogs.
Tree dwellers While most funnel spiders live on the ground a few species on the eastern coast of Australia live in wet forest trees.
They typically live in rotting holes in the bark and build silk trip wires outside the holes to alert themselves to prey.
The inside of their holes may be lined with silk and bits of bark are used to disguise the entrance.
Their dwellings have been found as much as 30 meters off the ground. Dangerous species All species of Australian funnel-web spiders are considered dangerous
but the two most notorious are the Sydney funnel-web spider and the northern tree-dwelling funnel spider.
The black or brown Sydney funnel-web spider s habitat correlates closely with the greater Sydney area.
Male Sydney funnel-webs are exclusively responsible for human deaths from this spider's bite. Their venom is five times as toxic as the female s
because it contains a special chemical called Robustoxin. Females lack this chemical. Furthermore males wander searching for mates
and running a higher risk of encountering humans while females stay in their burrows. The northern tree-dwelling funnel spider is also highly dangerous
but much more rarely encountered because it lives in a remote mountain area. Antivenom was discovered in the 1980s
and no one has died of bites from either species since n
#Furry Little Carnivore, Once Shown in Zoos, Is a New Species In the cloud forests of Ecuador scientists have discovered the olinguito the first new carnivore species reported in the Western hemisphere in 35 years.
The olinguito (Bassaricyon neblina) is a century-old case of missed connections. The furry 2-lb. animal resembles its fellow olingos
which are called sometimes cat monkeys because they look like house cats with long tails. But the orange-brown olinguito eluded classification by scientists for more than 100 years
despite being observed in the wild ending up in museum collections and even being exhibited at the Louisville Zoo the National Zoo and The bronx Zoo in the 1960s and 1970s according to a statement from the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural history.
Finally during a recent effort to classify the world's olingos which researchers have argued may be one
or up to five different species Smithsonian researchers noticed that some of the olingo skulls looked odd.
The researchers examined more than 95 percent of the olingo skulls kept in museums around the world the Smithsonian said in the statement.
These strange specimens had teeth and skulls that were shaped smaller and differently than those of other olingos. 6 Strange Species Discovered in Museums Preserved pelts revealed that the olingos with unusual skulls also had smaller bodies with longer denser coats.
Field notes from the early 1900s indicated the animals were collected in Colombia Panama Costa rica and Nicaragua at about 3250 to 5500 feet (1000 to 1700 meters) above sea level much higher than the olingo's known range
according to the new study. Working with Miguel Pinto a zoologist from Ecuador the researchers tracked down a living example of the new species. The data from the old specimens gave us an idea of where to look
but it still seemed like a shot in the dark Roland Kays study co-author and a zoologist at the North carolina Museum of Natural sciences in Raleigh said in the statement.
But these Andean forests are so amazing that even if we didn't find the animal we were looking for
I knew our team would discover something cool along the way. The team found the nocturnal carnivores on the western slopes of the Andes prowling the cloud forests for figs nectar and insects.
The olinguitos occasionally also eat birds mice and other small animals. Cloud forests are tropical moist forests with persistent fog or cloud cover.
A genetic analysis proved the olinguitos were a distinct species. The new species is described today (Aug 15) in the journal Zookeys.
Proving that a species exists and giving it a name is where everything starts lead study author Kristofer Helgen a zoologist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural history said in the statement.
This is a beautiful animal but we know so little about it. How many countries does it live in?
What else can we learn about its behavior? What do need we to do to ensure its conservation?
Olingos are listed as a species of least concern on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List the most widely recognized list of threatened and endangered species. Email Becky Oskin
or follow her@beckyoskin. Follow usâ@OAPLANET Facebookâ & Google+.+Original article on Livescience's Ouramazingplanet g
#Gangly Gerenuk Born at Denver Zoo The Denver Zoo welcomed an adorable baby gerenuk named Blossom this month.
The shy skinny antelope was born on March 6 to mother Layla and father Woody and the family can now be seen in the zoo's gerenuk exhibit.
Blossom has begun just venturing out into her yard and thoroughly enjoys it as she runs
and jumps to the delight of her first visitors zoo officials said in a statement.
Between bursts of speed though she likes to catch her breath in a cubby hole between some rocks.
Blossom is also Layla's first calf and she is proving to be a very attentive mother frequently making sure to clean
and check on Blossom. The word gerenuk appropriately means giraffe-necked in the Somali language.
These long-necked creatures which are native to eastern Africa can weigh between 60 to 100 pounds (27 to 45 kilograms) and stand about 3. 5 feet (1 meter) tall on four legs.
But their uniquely designed hips and pelvises also allow these antelopes to stand up vertically on their two hind legs to reach leaves
and twigs in trees. Blossom is the first gerenuk born at the Denver Zoo. Her parents were paired through the Species Survival Plan of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
The organization acts like a matchmaker recommending which animals should mate to ensure that captive populations of endangered species remain healthy and genetically diverse.
There are thought to be about 95000 gerenuks in the wild and the species is listed as near threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
These antelopes are world-class hiders which means they can endure some pressures of hunting in their native home
but they are threatened also by habitat loss and fragmentation according to the IUCN. Follow us@livescience Facebook & Google+.
+Original article on Livescience. co o
#George washington Carver: Biography, Inventions & Quotes George washington Carver was a prominent American scientist and inventor in the early 1900s.
Carver developed hundreds of products using the peanut sweet potatoes and soybeans. He also was a champion of crop rotation and agricultural education.
Born into slavery today he is an icon of American ingenuity and the transformative potential of education.
Carver was born likely in January or June of 1864. His exact birth date is unknown
because he was born a slave on the farm of Moses Carver in Diamond Missouri. Very little is known about George s father who may have been a field hand named Giles who was killed in a farming accident before George was born.
George s mother was named Mary; he had several sisters and a brother named James. When George was only a few weeks old Confederate raiders invaded the farm kidnapping George his mother and sister.
They were sold in Kentucky and only George was found by an agent of Moses Carver
and returned to Missouri. Carver and his wife Susan raised George and James and taught them to read.
James soon gave up the lessons preferring to work in the fields with his foster father.
George was not a strong child and was not able to work in the fields so Susan taught the boy to help her in the kitchen garden
and to make simple herbal medicines. George became fascinated by plants and was soon experimenting with natural pesticides fungicides and soil conditioners.
Local farmers began to call George oethe plant doctor as he was able to tell them how to improve the health of their garden plants.
At his wife s insistence Moses found a school that would accept George as a student.
 George walked the 10 miles several times a week to attend the School for African american Children in Neosho Kan.
When he was about 13 years old he left the farm to move to Ft. Scott Kan
. but he later moved to Minneapolis Kan. to attend high school. He earned much of his tuition by working in the kitchen of a local hotel.
He concocted new recipes which he entered in local baking contests. He graduated from Minneapolis High school in 1880 and set his sights on college.
George first applied to Highland Presbyterian College in Kansas. The college was impressed by George s application essay and granted him a full scholarship.
When he arrived at the school however he was turned away they hadn realized t he was black.
Over the next few years George worked at a variety of jobs. He homesteaded a farm in Kansas worked a ranch in New mexico
and worked for the railroads always saving money and looking for a college that would accept him.
In 1888 George enrolled as the first black student at Simpson College in Indianola Iowa.
He began studying art and piano expecting to earn a teaching degree. Carver later said oethe kind of people at Simpson College made
me believe I was a human being. Â Recognizing the unusual attention to detail in his paintings of plants
and flowers his instructor Etta Budd encouraged him to apply to Iowa State Agricultural School (now Iowa State university) to study Botany.
At Iowa State Carver was the first African american student to earn his Bachelor of science in 1894.
His professors were impressed so by his work on the fungal infections common to soybean plants that he was asked to remain as part of the faculty to work on his master s degree (awarded in 1896).
Working as director of the Iowa State Experimental Station Carver discovered two types of fungi which were named subsequently for him.
Carver also began experiments in crop rotation using soy plantings to replace nitrogen in depleted soil.
Before long Carver became well known as a leading agricultural scientist. In April 1896 Carver received a letter from Booker T. Washington of Tuskegee Institute one of the first African american colleges in the United states. oei cannot offer you money position
or fame read this letter. oethe first two you have. The last from the position you now occupy you will no doubt achieve.
These things I now ask you to give up. I offer you in their place: work hard work the task of bringing people from degradation poverty and waste to full manhood.
Your department exists only on paper and your laboratory will have to be in your head.
Washington s offer was $125. 00 per month (a substantial cut from Carver s Iowa State salary)
and the luxury of two rooms for living quarters (most Tuskegee faculty members had just one). It was an offer that George Carver accepted immediately
and the place where he worked for the remainder of his life. Carver was determined to use his knowledge to help poor farmers of the rural South.
He began by introducing the idea of crop rotation. In the Tuskegee experimental fields Carver settled on peanuts
because it was a simple crop to grow and had excellent nitrogen fixating properties to improve soil depleted by growing cotton.
He took his lessons to former slaves turned sharecroppers by inventing the Jessup Wagon a horse-drawn classroom
and laboratory for demonstrating soil chemistry. Farmers were ecstatic with the large cotton crops resulting from the cotton/peanut rotation
but were less enthusiastic about the huge surplus of peanuts that built up and began to rot in local storehouses.
Carver heard the complaints and retired to his laboratory for a solid week during which he developed several new products that could be produced from peanuts.
When he introduced these products to the public in a series of simple brochures the market for peanuts skyrocketed.
Today Carver is credited with saving the agricultural economy of the rural South. From his work at Tuskegee Carver developed approximately 300 products made from peanuts;
these included: flour paste insulation paper wall board wood stains soap shaving cream and skin lotion.
He experimented with medicines made from peanuts which included antiseptics laxatives and a treatment for goiter.
Contrary to popular belief while Carver developed a version of peanut butter he did not invent it.
The Incas developed a paste made out of ground peanuts as far back as 950 B c. In the United states according to the National Peanut Board Dr. John Harvey Kellogg of cereal fame invented a version
of peanut butter in 1895. A St louis physician may have developed peanut butter as a protein substitute for people who had poor teeth
and couldn't chew meat. Peanut butter was introduced at the St louis World's Fair in 1904.
During World war i Carver was asked to assist Henry ford in producing a peanut-based replacement for rubber.
Also during the war when dyes from Europe became difficult to obtain he helped the American textile industry by developing more than 30 colors of dye from Alabama soils.
After the War George added A w to his name to honor Booker T. Washington. Carver continued to experiment with peanut products
and became interested in sweet potatoes another nitrogen-fixing crop. Products he invented using sweet potatoes include:
wood fillers more than 73 dyes rope breakfast cereal synthetic silk shoe polish and molasses. He wrote several brochures on the nutritional value of sweet potatoes
and the protein found in peanuts including recipes he invented for use of his favorite plants.
He even went to India to confer with Mahatma Gandhi on nutrition in developing nations. In 1920 Carver delivered a speech to the new Peanut Growers Association of America.
This organization was advocating that Congress pass a tariff law to protect the new American industry from imported crops.
As a result of this speech he testified before Congress in 1921 and the tariff was passed in 1922.
 In 1923 Carver was named as Speaker for the United states Commission on Interracial Cooperation a post he held until 1933.
In 1935 he was named head of the Division of Plant Mycology and Disease Survey for the U s. Department of agriculture.
By 1938 largely due to Carver s influence peanuts had grown to be a $200-million-per year crop in the United states
and were the chief agricultural product grown in the state of Alabama. Carver died on Jan 5 1943.
At his death he left his life savings more than $60000 to found the George washington Carver Institute for Agriculture at Tuskegee.
In 1943 President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated funds to erect a monument at Diamond Missouri in his honor.
Commemorative postage stamps were issued in 1948 and again in 1998. A George washington Carver half-dollar coin was minted between 1951 and 1954.
There are two U s. military vessels named in his honor. There are also numerous scholarships and schools named for him.
He was awarded an honorary doctorate from Simpson College. Since his exact birth date is unknown Congress has designated January 5 as George washington Carver Recognition Day.
Carver only patented three of his inventions. In his words oeit is not the style of clothes one wears neither the kind of automobile one drives nor the amount of money one has in the bank that counts.
These mean nothing. It is simply service that measures success. Â Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.
Fear of something is at the root of hate for others and hate within will eventually destroy the hater.
Follow Denise Chow on Twitter@denisechow. Follow Ouramazingplanetâ@OAPLANET Facebookâ and Google+.+Original article at Livescience's Ouramazingplanet l
#Giant panda Cub Celebrates 1st Birthday Xiao Liwu the charismatic panda cub born at the San diego Zoo last year celebrated his first birthday today with a towering three-tiered cake made from ice and bamboo
The giant panda cub whose name means little gift was born on July 29 2102 the sixth offspring for mother Bai Yun.
and a half 0. 6 kg when he was examined first 23 days after his birth he is now just over 41 pounds 18.5 kg of pure energy the zoo said in a statement.
and napping in his favorite spot in one of the tallest trees on his exhibit the zoo added.
There are thought to be only 1600 giant pandas left in the wild and their natural habitat is restricted to mountainous forests of China.
because pandas have a very narrow mating window. So far this year U s. zoos have welcomed two new baby pandas:
twins born at Zoo Atlanta two weeks ago. All pandas in the United states technically belong to China
which loans the fuzzy creatures to foreign zoos. Follow Megan Gannon on Twitterand Google+.+Follow us@livescience Facebook& Google+.
+Original article on Livescience. com m
#Giant pandas May be threatened by Forest Reform There are thought to be fewer than 1600 giant pandas in the wild today
and the beloved bears'home in the mountains of China is threatened increasingly by climate change and human activity.
While China has made achievements in saving the pandas in recent years a group of conservations says the government's plans to free up forests for commercial use could be a blow to the endangered species. This change puts these vital habitats potentially under threat from commercial
logging increased collection of firewood and non-timber forest products by outside enterprises and other commercial development activities Russell Mittermeier president of environmental organization Conservation International said in a statement.
China is reforming its system of collective forest tenure to allow individual farmers to transfer
 Pandas roam in part of this area and Mittermeier warned the plans could disturb up to 15 percent of the species remaining habitat.
The reform contradicts the great steps the Chinese government has taken to conserve the giant panda in recent decades added Li Zhang a scientist with Conservation International's branch in China.
instead consider an eco compensation program in which it would buy back development rights from local communities to preserve the pandas'home They pointed out that China has spent already more than $100 billion (U s. dollars) on eco-compensation
and they argue that another $240 million in effective payments could prevent a 15 percent drop in the giant panda population.
Based on animal bone findings nutritional data and other discoveries at this workers'town site the archaeologists estimate that more than 4000 pounds of meat from cattle sheep
The animals alone would need about 155 square miles (401 square kilometers) of territory to graze.
These animals also needed herders likely one herder for every six cattle and one herder for every 50 sheep or goats based on ethnographic observations.
At the end of their lives the animals were kept likely in the southern part of the town in a recently unearthed structure that researchers have dubbed the OK corral.
The structure which includes two small enclosures where animals may have been slaughtered and a rounded pen is hidden partly under a modern-day soccer field.
Evidence also suggested the people in eastern town were trading with people in workers'town for hippo-tusk fragments.
when I was interviewed about GMOS on CNN's The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzerâ asâ they reported that Chipotle the fast-food restaurant chain
In most cases GMOS have been altered with DNA from another organism be it a bacterium plant virus or animal;
A gene from a spider that helps the arachnid produce silk for example could be inserted into the DNA of an ordinary goat.
Geneticists have bred GMO pigs that glow in the dark by inserting into their DNA a gene for bioluminescence from a jellyfish.
The GMO crops that are used widely have for the most part been engineered genetically to control pests in one of two ways:
or they are resistant to a pesticide like Roundup (manufactured by Monsanto Corp.).One widely used method of incorporating insect resistance into plants is through the gene for toxin production found in the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) according to the World health organization.
GMO crops that are modified with the Bt gene have a proven resistance to insect pests thus reducing the need for wide-scale spraying of synthetic pesticides.
In addition to pest resistance GMO crops can be engineered for disease resistance drought tolerance added nutrients hot or cold temperature resistance and other beneficial traits.
and damage to virtually every organ studied in lab animals according to the Institute for Responsible Technology a group of anti-GMO activists.
Potatoes engineered with a lectin gene (for resistance to pests) were linked to stomach damage in rats that consumed the potatoes according to a report from the University of California Davis
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