Earlier this evening, Turtle did me a proper by scooping the cat box and leaving the contents in a plastic grocery bag by the kitchen door. A little later than that, I returned the favor by walking the bag out to the trash cart.
It was dark already, so I strapped an LED light to my forehead and made my way through the back yard and around the side of the house. As I walked, I noticed dozens of tiny emerald green lights sparkling in the grass. I stopped and squatted to take a closer look and was surprised to discover a spider! Then I stopped to look at a few more of the tiny green lights. Same thing.
I never would have guessed that spider eyes would reflect, just like those of dogs, cats, and other much larger creatures. How cool!
But I'm hardly the first to have discovered this phenomenon. When I googled spider eyes reflecting, I quickly discovered that this eye reflectivity is a common attribute of wolf spiders, as described in Wm. H. Amos' “Bright-Eyed Singers” and in the last couple paragraphs of “Recognizing Wolf Spiders” at accessexcellence.org.
4 comments:
I'm pretty sure this natural phenomenon entirely justifies the invention of napalm. *shudder*
Do they kill people? Do their eyes follow you everywhere?
Another fascinating fact...and it brings to mind the Harry Potter movie with Ron and Harry encounter the giant spider...LOL
I always loved trail running at night, diamonds everywhere!
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