The Vegetarian Web Expands

National Geographic magazine has reported what they call the world’s first vegetarian spider.

If you’ve been agonising about the ethics of loving meat and your pet dog, this may be of help. National Geographic magazine has reported what they call the world’s first vegetarian spider. Not only does the Bagheera kiplingi not eat its mate to round off a satisfying conjugal session, it survives mostly on nutrient-rich buds growing on acacia plants. The spider, a native of Mexico and Costa Rica, was named after Bagheera in Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. Christopher Meehan of the University of Arizona and his team who studied the spider found that it jumps from thorn to thorn on acacia plants to feed on the buds. And skillfully evades a species of ants that live and feed on these plants. The spiders do, however, feast on the ants’ larvae for a change of taste.

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