Ruud Kleinpaste: Cirque du Soleil spiders

<p><span>I was excited to go to my favourite circus: Cirque du Soleil; they’re back in town!!</span></p> <p><span>Great costumes – lots of art – and creative music.</span><span> </span></p> <p><span>Most of all: fabulous performers that can do incredible things with their bodies; this, by the way, is something that makes my old body ache, just looking at it!</span><span> </span></p> <p><span>Safety has to be an enormously important part of the show, yet you rarely see obvious signs of safety lines and nets, really…</span><span> </span></p> <p><span>Fast-Forward to some of our jumping spiders; their Family name is “Salticidae” from Latin “Saltare”, meaning: to jump</span><span> </span></p> <p><span>Some of our species are absolute masters at it – they come inside the house, look around for potential prey and then the stalking starts.</span><span> </span></p> <p><span>Jumping spiders have great eye-sight – total of eight eyes, two are large front eyes for perfect stereo vision… </span><span> </span></p> <p><span>The following “jump” is also extremely fast and accurate, but what most people don’t see is that during this jump the spider reels off silk from a gland in the abdomen. (at lightning speed!)</span><span> </span></p> <p><span>This silk line is the spider’s safety line, in case it misses the target or falls of the window sill, table or other precarious edge where the jump takes place.</span><span> </span></p> <p><span>Looking at these spiders you’ll see an entomological version of Cirque du Soleil with “web-sites” and bungy cords, safety lines and safety nets, daring jumps and lightning fast reflexes, all made from Natural fibres that are strong and efficient and - most of all – Biodegradable!</span><span> </span></p> <p><span>Not surprised then that some scientists think they have observed jumping spiders going into REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleeps…</span><span> </span></p> <p><span>No doubt dreaming about their miniaturecircus acts.</span></p><p>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/li