• Business
  • Life
  • Celebrity
  • Sport
  • Blog
  • Auto
  • Tech
Stories from SWNS
Advertisement
  • Home
  • News
    The Führer’s Prophecy by Brian Klein 

    The Führer’s Prophecy by Brian Klein 

    How to find safe non-gamstop casino games

    How to find safe non-gamstop casino games

    Conservation zoos ‘have powerful potential to reverse extinction’

    Conservation zoos ‘have powerful potential to reverse extinction’

    Royal Navy aviators raising cash to rescue stray puppy

    Royal Navy aviators raising cash to rescue stray puppy

    “I got a new haircut – now I look exactly like Frodo Baggins from Lord of the Rings”

    “I got a new haircut – now I look exactly like Frodo Baggins from Lord of the Rings”

    £6.8billion turtle-shaped floating city unveiled

    £6.8billion turtle-shaped floating city unveiled

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Business
  • Life
    • Celebrity
  • Tech
    Why Is Cloud Storage Migration Best Left To Professionals?

    Why Is Cloud Storage Migration Best Left To Professionals?

    How Tech Is Empowering Small Businesses And The Economy 

    How Tech Is Empowering Small Businesses And The Economy 

    The Technology Behind Forex Trading – And its Wider Impact

    The Technology Behind Forex Trading – And its Wider Impact

    Must-Have iPad Accessories At PITAKA Black Friday Sale Event

    Must-Have iPad Accessories At PITAKA Black Friday Sale Event

    How To Select The Best Lead Generation Software For Your Business: Our Top Tips

    How To Select The Best Lead Generation Software For Your Business: Our Top Tips

    Best Technologies in the Gambling Industry That Are Worth Your Attention

    Best Technologies in the Gambling Industry That Are Worth Your Attention

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
  • Review

    The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild gameplay on the Nintendo Switch

    Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun Review

    macOS Sierra review: Mac users get a modest update this year

    Hands on: Samsung Galaxy A5 2017 review

    The Last Guardian Playstation 4 Game review

    Intel Core i7-7700K ‘Kaby Lake’ review

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    The Führer’s Prophecy by Brian Klein 

    The Führer’s Prophecy by Brian Klein 

    How to find safe non-gamstop casino games

    How to find safe non-gamstop casino games

    Conservation zoos ‘have powerful potential to reverse extinction’

    Conservation zoos ‘have powerful potential to reverse extinction’

    Royal Navy aviators raising cash to rescue stray puppy

    Royal Navy aviators raising cash to rescue stray puppy

    “I got a new haircut – now I look exactly like Frodo Baggins from Lord of the Rings”

    “I got a new haircut – now I look exactly like Frodo Baggins from Lord of the Rings”

    £6.8billion turtle-shaped floating city unveiled

    £6.8billion turtle-shaped floating city unveiled

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Business
  • Life
    • Celebrity
  • Tech
    Why Is Cloud Storage Migration Best Left To Professionals?

    Why Is Cloud Storage Migration Best Left To Professionals?

    How Tech Is Empowering Small Businesses And The Economy 

    How Tech Is Empowering Small Businesses And The Economy 

    The Technology Behind Forex Trading – And its Wider Impact

    The Technology Behind Forex Trading – And its Wider Impact

    Must-Have iPad Accessories At PITAKA Black Friday Sale Event

    Must-Have iPad Accessories At PITAKA Black Friday Sale Event

    How To Select The Best Lead Generation Software For Your Business: Our Top Tips

    How To Select The Best Lead Generation Software For Your Business: Our Top Tips

    Best Technologies in the Gambling Industry That Are Worth Your Attention

    Best Technologies in the Gambling Industry That Are Worth Your Attention

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
  • Review

    The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild gameplay on the Nintendo Switch

    Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun Review

    macOS Sierra review: Mac users get a modest update this year

    Hands on: Samsung Galaxy A5 2017 review

    The Last Guardian Playstation 4 Game review

    Intel Core i7-7700K ‘Kaby Lake’ review

No Result
View All Result
Stories from SWNS
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Coming to a home near you: Britain’s biggest wild spiders which can grow up to 8cm long

by
October 4, 2012
in News
0
Carmen Solan with some of the young great raft spiders

Carmen Solan with some of the young great raft spiders

0
SHARES
65
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Ecologists have released hundreds of Britain’s largest breed of spider into the wild – which can grow to a whopping eight centimetres.

The great raft spider has been saved by a breeding programme involving ten zoos.

With a leg span of up to 8cm, the arachnid is capable of catching and eating a fish as it glides across the surface of water.

[half]

Carmen Solan with some of the young great raft spiders
Carmen Solan with some of the young great raft spiders

[/half]

[half]

The spiders can grow up to 8cm long and are Britain's biggest bread
The spiders can grow up to 8cm long and are Britain’s biggest breed

[/half]

Around 200 baby spiders have already been released at the RSPB’s Strumpshaw Fen reserve near Norwich.

Ecologist Dr Helen Smith said: “Most invertebrate groups don’t receive a lot of conservation effort.

“The ones that tend to receive the attention are the big and spectacular ones … this is very much the case with great raft spiders.

“They’re big, they’re beautiful and they have to fly the flag for other species.”

Funding from Natural England, the BBC Wildlife Fund and the Broads Authority hopes to reintroduce the spider to the Norfolk Broads, where it was once commonplace.

[half]

A Raft spider in a test tube
A Raft spider in a test tube

[/half]

[half]

The critter shows off its long legs
The critter shows off its long legs

[/half]

An adult male great raft spider similar to the ones which are being released as part of the Bristol Zoo conservation programme
An adult male great raft spider similar to the ones which are being released as part of the Bristol Zoo conservation programme

Instead of being raised in their usual nursery webs, suspended from wetland plants, the tiny animals were individually housed in test tubes – where iron-willed volunteers fed them by mouth.

Bristol Zoo Gardens keeper Carmen Solan  raised 170 of the arachnids, using a special tube operated with her mouth to feed the tiny critters dead flies.

She said: “It does take a lot of time.

“You have to be careful to make sure they’ve got enough humidity to be able to moult.”

Carmen even had favourite spiders – which in the wild are capable of catching a stickleback.

Dr Smith said: “Having invested their summer into feeding them individually, people do get quite attached.

“But when you return the next year and see 500 to 700 babies, it’s worth the effort.”

The ecologist, who has 20 years’ experience working with raft spiders, says the conservation programme is designed to give the spiders the best chance in the wild – boosting survival rates by as much as 90 per cent.

She said: “We’re all improving our captive-rearing expertise through this process.

“It’s early days. We’re two years down the line now but the indications are that the spiders are settled in well.”

Previous batches of spiderlings released have been discovered to be breeding well in the fen, and four nursery webs were spotted, each containing around 200 tiny spiders.

Dr Smith said: “With animals that are this rare you can make lots of arguments about food chains and food webs, and how important that is.

“We simply don’t know what pulling out one brick will do further down the heap.”

The spiders can live up to two and a half years, but thankfully they will not be appearing in bathtubs any time soon, as they cannot survive outside their marshland habitat.

Previous Post

Female stable owners ‘horse whipped’ by man in bitter feud over £50k prized mare

Next Post

Jack Russell chained to shed for so long it had to drink its own urine to survive

Next Post
Cruelty: David Nicholls has been banned from keeping animals for 10 years

Jack Russell chained to shed for so long it had to drink its own urine to survive

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Stay Connected test

  • 121 Followers
  • 60k Followers
  • 189k Subscribers
  • 23.8k Followers
  • 99 Subscribers
  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
Women love cheesy chat up lines, a study has revealed

Top 20 cheesy chat-up lines ladies really love

March 5, 2014
The top ten most well-known bingo phrases

The top ten most well-known bingo phrases

January 21, 2014
The horses thunder towards a jump at the Grand National

Amazing racehorse names which never made it

April 23, 2014
HGH Injections Brands: Which Ones Are Best?

HGH Injections Brands: Which Ones Are Best?

January 14, 2019
Chris Fear, 33, outside the Coral betting shop which is refusing to pay out on his 485/1 winning bet

Boycott Coral! Bookmaker faces protest after refusing to pay out on a football fan’s 485/1 bet

184
Women love cheesy chat up lines, a study has revealed

Top 20 cheesy chat-up lines ladies really love

147
Women feel invisible to the opposite sex at the age of 51, researchers found

Women begin feeling invisible to men ‘when they turn 51’

138
UKIP candidate claims Jews murdered each other in the Holocaust in masterplan to create State of Israel

UKIP candidate claims Jews murdered each other in the Holocaust in masterplan to create State of Israel

105
Mobile gaming vs PC gaming: Which is better for playing casino games?

Mobile gaming vs PC gaming: Which is better for playing casino games?

March 19, 2023
The Führer’s Prophecy by Brian Klein 

The Führer’s Prophecy by Brian Klein 

March 16, 2023
6 Benefits of Customs Clearance Services

6 Benefits of Customs Clearance Services

March 10, 2023
Bloomcare Rowan Garth: Reintegration Care

Bloomcare Rowan Garth: Reintegration Care

March 8, 2023

Recent News

Mobile gaming vs PC gaming: Which is better for playing casino games?

Mobile gaming vs PC gaming: Which is better for playing casino games?

March 19, 2023
The Führer’s Prophecy by Brian Klein 

The Führer’s Prophecy by Brian Klein 

March 16, 2023
6 Benefits of Customs Clearance Services

6 Benefits of Customs Clearance Services

March 10, 2023
Bloomcare Rowan Garth: Reintegration Care

Bloomcare Rowan Garth: Reintegration Care

March 8, 2023
SWNS

SWNS all rights reserved. Copyright 2020

Follow Us

Browse by Category

  • Auto
  • Blog
  • Business
  • Celebrity
  • Gaming
  • Life
  • Lifestyle
  • News
  • Pictures
  • Property
  • Review
  • Sport
  • SWNS
  • Tech
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized

Recent News

Mobile gaming vs PC gaming: Which is better for playing casino games?

Mobile gaming vs PC gaming: Which is better for playing casino games?

March 19, 2023
The Führer’s Prophecy by Brian Klein 

The Führer’s Prophecy by Brian Klein 

March 16, 2023
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

Real Fix is a trading style of South West News Service Limited.
Copyright © 2020 South West News Service Limited.

No Result
View All Result
  • Business
  • Life
  • Celebrity
  • Sport
  • Blog
  • Auto
  • Tech

Real Fix is a trading style of South West News Service Limited.
Copyright © 2020 South West News Service Limited.