Nature & Environment
Spiders evolved spare legs
By
T.K. RandallJune 10, 2011 ·
16 comments
Image Credit: sxc.hu
New research has revealed that spiders actually have more legs than they need for everyday use.
Scientists examining a selection of spiders from around the world discovered that a lot of them were missing one or two of their legs. When studying their behaviour to determine if this was having a negative impact on their ability to function the researchers found that spiders with one or two missing limbs didn't seem to be having any problems at all.
Scientists may have uncovered why spiders are so creepy-crawly—they have more legs than they need, a new study says. After collecting thousands of female spiders in the wild, scientists found that more than 10 percent of the arachnids were missing at least one of their eight legs.
Source:
National Geographic |
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