Spiders Alive Exhibit at Sydney’s Australian Museum
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The Spiders are Alive at Sydney Exhibit Australian Museum
At the Spiders – Alive & Deadly exhibition the Tarantulas have arrived for visitors who will be transported to the subterranean home of the ancient Tasmanian Cave Spider through augmented reality.
They will also compete in a mating dance ritual with a Peacock Spider, experience up close the Golden Orb weaving spider and their huge webs in the cobweb room.
Finally, they will be captivated by large groups of the Australian Huntsman Spider – the world’s only communal spider family – living together, and witness live ‘venom-milking’ conducted on a daily basis by AM experts in the ‘Venom Lab.’
The Sydney exhibit of Spiders Alive and Deadly at the Australian Museum are a hot ticket this holidays as the Sydney exhibit ends on the 16th of July.
“The venom collected will be given to the venom databank at the University of Queensland – the largest venom databank in the world where it will be utilised by medical researchers for potential pain medications and anti-cancer treatments,” Dr. Rebecca Johnson, Director of the Australian Museum Research Institute said.
Breakthrough research on spider silk technology will also be introduced to visitors.
Despite their gossamer appearance, spider silk ranks amongst the toughest and most durable material in the world.
Currently being developed are biodegradable fishing lines, medical sutures and protective armour cloth.
From Spider-Man to Charlotte’s Web, spiders have inspired films, books, jewellery, tattoos and even clothing. But their evolutionary success in our ecosystem is just as fascinating.
“Spiders are unique and talented creatures that are capable of astonishing things.” Catherine Timbrell, Project Manager, Exhibitions said“They inhabit every continent except Antarctica and are able to survive in environments that range from deserts to rain forests to our crowded cities.
They can climb trees, survive falls, swim, parachute, spin webs and they can even give up a limb when in danger and then grow it back.”
“In the spider world of ‘eat or be eaten,’ we encourage visitors to marvel at the clever techniques used by predators of all sizes. These include their little-known defensive mechanisms such as mimicry and noise-making – to hunt and kill their next meal from ambush and suffocation to camouflage, super senses and cannibalism,” Timbrell said.
Cullen is then taken into one of the spider’s chambers where Cathrine places his head inside the spider dome where he gets up close with the spiders hurriedly building their webs just centimeters from him.
Catherine eventually releases Cullen into the wild where he scurries from the museum across into Hyde Park through the night noodle market towards a birthday party preparing to quickly digest something light before disappearing underground at the Sydney Town hall for his next encounter.
Spiders alive and deadly exhibition which opens from the 29 October 2016 – 16 July 2017 at the Australian Museum in Sydney http://australianmuseum.net.au/landing/spiders-alive-and-deadly/
The Spider podcasts alive and deadly have been brought to you by The EATT Magazine Podcast as a preview to the city of Sydney stories soon to be released in 2017.
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Spiders can also react to a number of weather changes
Rain is often indicated when some spiders create their webs in much higher spaces than normal and oftentimes can over-spin their webs.
However, the Huntsman spiders are more likely at those times to be higher up on walls and up into ceilings inside houses and outdoor or indoor sheds.
Some people also suggest that the ‘daily rebuilder’ spider can often construct smaller webs if wet weather is anticipated.
Spider’s are also playing a role in some new upcoming movies such as Spyder.
In the opening scene of a recent trailer for the new film, a robotic spider has appeared to be suddenly climbing over the back of a man in an intriguing and brilliantly gripping scene within the first 75 seconds.
#SPYDER #GlimpseOfSPYDER #SpyderTeaser
Movie: SPYDER Starring: Mahesh Babu, Rakul Preet Singh, SJ Suriya Director: A R Murugadoss Music: Harris Jayaraj Cinematography: Santosh Sivan ASC.ISC Fight Master: Peter Hien Editor: Sreekar Prasad Art Director: Rupin Suchak
Thanks for listening.
