The Darwin's bark spider (Caerostris darwini) builds the largest webs of any spider on earth. There are several species, most of them found in Madagascar. This spider can shoot a web up to 25 meters (82 feet) across a river! Sure, she's taking advantage of the prevailing winds, but that's a lot of silk from a tiny arachnid. It pays off, though, because rivers are where the insects are. This particular spider has some competition in the form of another spider that wants to use her bridge to start a web. And can you blame her for wanting to save some energy? Anyone who has been pregnant or has breastfed can imagine the resources it takes to produce that much spider silk, much less the strong premium silk this spider produces. Luckily, it is recyclable. This segment, narrated by Sir David Attenborough, is from the BBC nature documentary series The Hunt. -via Born in Space
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When I lived in Louisiana I had a huge orb spider that would build a web on my back porch that would span about 12 feet across. She would make her web at night and a late night business meeting for the dog would make it possible to see what an enormous web she could make in a few short hours. Come morning the web and the spider would be gone only for the web to appear again in the same place the following night..
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