Daily Image
03-05-2018.gif)
8 eyes of hairy inspiration
| Submitter: | Paula Fusiara |
| Description: | When you think that you are quietly sitting in your office with the two of you, better think twice... there's always extra 4 pairs of eyes and extra thousand(s) of pairs of ears somewhere in the corner of your office. There he was, a visitor, hah! Peacefully sitting in an old-paper box. A handsome long-hairy-legged, 6.4 cm big undercover exoskeletal agent. Yep, it is a he - the prominent bulbous pedipalps in front reveal his readiness for courtship with one of his kind. Nothing special, just a friendly, innocent visit. Most of you would either kill such a creature or start screaming your lungs out, but have you ever examined such a beauty in detail? To me it is always a source of inspiration for many 'mechanical' ideas. Look at his super-sensitive trichobothria - tiny hair on his legs. They are spider's ears, tasting pupils and his nose in one (or in thousands since he has a hell lot of them all over the place) - independently detecting minuscule movement and responding to vibrations of the background noise in the 40-600 Hz bandwidth. The hair smells and tastes whether his prey is edible, and it helps him against falling. How marvellous is it, don't you think? Not only does he have 4 pairs of legs, but also extra thousand or so to stabilize just in case! (not a bit overconstrained don't you think ;-)) *DISCLAIMER: no insect has suffered during this examination; to reduce the stress factor among the co-workers and the spider itself, the beauty was put back to its natural environment (outside) |
| Copyright: | PF |
| Tweet |  |