STUPENDOUS SPIDERS
Professor Mike Bruton, informal science educator, museum and science centre development consultant
Tuesday 20 January 1.00 pm COURSE FEES R115; Staff and students R58
Despite their reputation as repulsive creepy-crawlies, spiders are beautifully adapted for their predatory lifestyles and have created, through natural selection, silk fibres that are far stronger than those invented by humans. They use silk to build webs, catch and wrap prey, as safety lines when climbing, to trap bubbles of air underwater, and even as sails to glide through the air. Web spiders build elaborate webs to catch their prey, jumping spiders can jump fifty times their own height, and fish-eating spiders are expert underwater ambush hunters. Spiders typically have eight eyes and modified mouthparts with fangs to inject venom into prey. The males are romantic creatures that engage in elaborate courtship rituals to attract their sweethearts, involving dancing, vibrating the web or presenting her with prey. It’s time to rethink the persona of spiders.
TO BOOK: https://www.webtickets.co.za/performance.aspx?itemid=1575458169
Mike Bruton originally practised as an ichthyologist and aquatic ecologist before branching out into museum and science centre development. He has had a lifetime interest in the history of the bicycle and has mounted two travelling exhibitions on the topic. He is also the curator of the recently-established Trail’s End Bicycle Museum in Grabouw. In retirement he has focussed on public understanding of science and technology and has published numerous books on South African and African scientists and inventors.