Daily Updates
Busy Day at the Bear Center - UPDATE July 6, 2016
06 July 2016
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Today staff and volunteers hung a variety of 14 birdhouses around NABC property. They are mounted along the tree line and are ready for spring occupancy.Ted with watermelon
Ted with watermelon
Thanks to all who sent us birdhouses; we can?t wait to see them occupied in the spring.
Tasha enjoyed her boat bumper enrichment toy today. A Lily Fan caught all the action on video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRMcLawoqzM.
Our intern, Kara, provided an interesting update on the Striped Fishing Spider today.
Tasha with watermelon
Tasha with watermelon
On June 18th, 2016, a spider was found on a wooden display in front of the fish tank in the Northwoods Ecology Hall. The spider was then shooed into a critter container by two summer interns. The gender and specific species of the spider were unknown at this point. We did not know what kind of hunter this spider was or what it preferred to eat, but the spider ate two live crickets when they were offered to it later that day.
The spider was fed two crickets every other day for the next six days. On the morning of June 26th, it became clear to us that our spider is a female. Sometime after closing time the previous day she had constructed a very small web in the corner of the container and in the middle of that, a large white egg sac. She was sitting very still with her abdomen inserted in the middle of this sac. She was laying her eggs. After almost a half hour, she finished laying her eggs and began to close up the egg sac opening with silk produced from her spinnerets. The truly surprising and fascinating part of this was that she was using multiple strands at a time and luckily we were able to catch this on video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFHJduKu5fU.
Bird house
Bird house
Bird house
Bird houses at the NABC
We checked on her approximately an hour and a half after we saw her closing her egg sac, she had cut her egg sac out of her web. She rolled the sac in to a tight sphere and was holding it under her body with her jaws and a few strands of silk from her spinnerets. She is still carrying this with her everywhere in order to protect her eggs. She will hold it until the spiderlings emerge, meaning she will also not be eating again until then. Here is a video of her carrying her egg sac.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XITi_m7HF-U.
Bird house Bird house Bird house
Bird houses at the NABC
We have identified her as a striped fishing spider (Dolomedes scriptus), but have not yet settled on a name for her. As the species name suggests, fishing spiders hunt small fish, tadpoles, and an assortment of insects. Due to this stalk and ambush hunting lifestyle, striped fishing spiders don?t make or use webs except to have and nurture their young. These semi-aquatic spiders live near the water and hunt sitting on the surface of the water. They can dive and remain underwater for as long as 30 minutes.
Miss Spider has now been carrying her egg sac for 11 days and we are anxiously awaiting the appearance of her spiderlings. We are currently uncertain as to how long this process takes, but we have taken precautions in preparation for this occasion. To ensure that her 1,000 or more little spiderlings can?t escape from the many small openings on her container, we have stretched some fine mesh material across its top. Our research tells us that after the spiderlings emerge, they will be protected in a nursery web for about a week before they disperse.
Stay tuned; we will keep you updated on her progress.
Thank you for all you do.
NABC Staff
Reference: Weber, L. 2013. ?Spiders of the North Woods.? 2nd Edition.
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Topic: Jewel and her cubs (Read 2389976 times)