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I thought this was incredibly interesting, it goes to show there are thousands of species that we don't even know about.source posted:SCIENTISTS have discovered the world’s first known vegetarian spider.
Bagheera kiplingi, a South American species, lives almost exclusively on leaf buds and is thought to be the only spider of about 40,000 species to have rejected a carnivorous diet.
Instead it has developed a laidback lifestyle based on nutritious wild acacia plants — and has no need to spin a web to catch its prey.
The females have even dispensed with the time-honoured spider custom of eating their sexual partners immediately after mating.
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“This is the first spider known to ‘hunt’ plants as a primary food source,” said Christopher Meehan of Villanova University, in Pennsylvania, who observed the creatures, about the size of a thumbnail, on a field trip in Mexico.
The vegetarian diet of B kiplingi appears to have prompted other changes. Since it no longer needs to go through the energy-sapping business of catching prey, it has diverted its web-spinning abilities to building family homes. Mothers use the nests to rear their young.
B kiplingi does not, however, lead an entirely blameless lifestyle. Its food may be vegetarian but the spiders first have to steal it from under the noses of the ants that guard acacias against invaders.
For zoologists, though, the most startling aspect of Meehan’s discovery is that spider physiology was thought to make plant-eating impossible.
“Spiders aren’t thought to be capable of eating solid food at all,” said Meehan. Normally they secrete enzymes onto their prey to digest them outside the body and then consume what’s left as a kind of soup. B kiplingi, however, eats its vegetables whole.
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I thought this was incredibly interesting, it goes to show there are thousands of species that we don't even know about.source posted:
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If I was a spider I would want to be this one.
So I wouldn't be eaten after sex.
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What if it would be worth it?
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PETA approves of this thread.
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Ah a progressive spider.
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Just be a female one
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Yeah you'll be eating male spider either wayJust be a female one
Oh snap
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:golfclap:
Also, this spider is known for stealing and eating ant larvae, as well as cannibalizing other members of their species. So no, it isn't exclusively herbivorous.
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We're finding all kinds of crazy stuff like this all the time. I like this kind of news. This and major technological breakthroughs give me hope in humanity again.
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Is the spider as whiny and stupid as their human counterparts?
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Earth really is an amazing planet
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Yeah, it's a shame about how many people miss what's right in front of their faces for their whole life.
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is it gay
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picture
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what exactly makes this a "scientific first"..? scientist didnt make it vegetarian, they just found it...
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because it's the first vegan spider hur dur
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I wonder if it's carnivore counterparts eat this species....
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Did you even read my post?
It's a first yes.. not a scientific first though. it wasn't made by science..
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That's sweet :D
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From bugs to plants.
They're getting smarter!
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See bugs are friends not evil killers peta is best
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Spiders today, Lions tomorrow
.
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How the fuck does it get in the nest without getting torn to shreds by millions of ants?
No, but it is the first discovered, and like the article said, spiders weren't thought to be able to eat food whole like this spider does.
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Scout hide
(lololol empires joke)
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FINE THEN, OP, CHANGE IT TO SPIDERIFIC FIRST
hur der
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It'd be funny to just see dozens of these swarm a leaf, treating it as if it were an elephant or something.
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A spider that eats plants and does cannibalism, then how is it a vegetarian?
What is it, an 8 legged plant?
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goddamnt cute little fucking spiderrrrrrrrrrrrrrrpicture
Edited:
METAL SPIDER
(aka metal gear)
Edited:
it haves an yellow penis on his face
Edited:
what is that shit he is walking on
Edited:
it haves 8 legs
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I want to read more about the bird-eating frog!
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Spiders today, Lions tomorrow
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ITS HAPPENlNG!
Agree x 12
Informative x 3
Funny x 12
Bad Reading x 2
Dumb x 1
Disagree x 1
Friendly x 11
