Warning: Contains Spiders!

This post is dedicated to Dad, for his highly amusing Birthday Touché. I had asked my father for bugs for a few birthdays in a row, to be responded with a rather firm "NO." on each occasion. This year though, he got me good. I received an awesome red stag beetle in resin! I'm not sure which species, as there are about 1200, He also got me a rather cool garden spider in resin as a keychain, which has spawned this creepy creepy-crawly post. (Pic: not my beetle - camera broken, so this image is from dandltrading.net.)

On my internettable travels, I came across some true delights of the animal world. Well, I say delights, but I appreciate they aren't the cup of tea for everyone. I personally find most insects fascinating, but the two showcased here are exceptionally interesting.

My personal favourite of the spider families is the Portia. There's a rather good bit of work here: Click for Creepy Insects! The Portia spiders' favourite dinner is... other spiders. This tiny chap has turned out to be one of the most extraordinarily intelligent arachnids, creating a wide and scary repertoire of tricks, traps and cons to capture their next eight-legged meal. They design a whole new game plan for each individual spider from what it has learned from the last time it encountered that particular species. They even go so far as to throw a real fly into a victims web to lure it out!

I also collected this clip from "the web". He's a jumping spider, and this little fella is SO funny. Turn your volume on, and listen to the little guy's fantastic fancy footwork!