70 : Tarantulas have arrived for the Sydney exhibit of Spiders Alive and Deadly at the Australian Museum
Summary: Welcome to the EATT Magazine podcast winner of the 2017 Cast Away Australian Podcast Awards most popular vote category in Lifestyle, Health and Wellness.<br> <br> <br> <br> Itunes link to the images in this podcast <a href="https://eattmag.com/sydney-exhibit/">https://eattmag.com/sydney-exhibit/</a><br> The Sydney exhibit of Spiders Alive and Deadly at the Australian Museum are a hot ticket this holidays as the Sydney exhibit ends on the 16th of July.<br> At the Spiders – Alive & Deadly exhibition the Tarantulas have arrived for visitors who will be transported to the subterranean home of the ancient Tasmanian Cave Spider through augmented reality, compete in a mating dance ritual with a Peacock Spider, experience up close the Golden Orb weaving spider and their huge webs in the cobweb room, be captivated by large groups of the Australian Huntsman Spider – the world’s only communal spider family – living together, and witness live ‘venom-milking’ conducted on a daily basis by AM experts in the ‘Venom Lab.’<br> <br> <br> <br> “The venom collected will be given to the venom databank at the University of Queensland – the largest venom databank in the world – where it will be utilised by medical researchers for potential pain medications and anti-cancer treatments,” Dr. Rebecca Johnson, Director of the Australian Museum Research Institute said.<br> <br> Image: Maratus volans male Jurgen Otto<br> <br> Breakthrough research on spider silk technology will also be introduced to visitors. Despite their gossamer appearance, spider silk ranks amongst the toughest and most durable material in the world. Currently being developed are biodegradable fishing lines, medical sutures and protective armour cloth.<br> From Spider-Man to Charlotte’s Web, spiders have inspired films, books, jewellery, tattoos and even clothing. But their evolutionary success in our ecosystem is just as fascinating.<br> <br> <br> <br> “Spiders are unique and talented creatures that are capable of astonishing things.” Catherine Timbrell, Project Manager, Exhibitions said<br> “They inhabit every continent except Antarctica and are able to survive in environments that range from deserts to rain forests to our crowded cities. They can climb trees, survive falls, swim, parachute, spin webs and they can even give up a limb when in danger and then grow it back.”<br> “In the spider world of ‘eat or be eaten,’ we encourage visitors to marvel at the clever techniques used by predators of all sizes - including little-known defensive mechanisms such as mimicry and noise-making - to hunt and kill their next meal from ambush and suffocation to camouflage, super senses and cannibalism.” Timbrell said.<br> <br> Cullen is then taken into one of the spiders chambers where Cathrine places his head inside the spider dome where he he gets up close with the spiders hurriedly building their webs just centimeters from him.<br> <br> <br> <br> Catherine eventually releases Cullen into the wild where he scurries from the museum across into Hyde park through the night noodle market towards a birthday party preparing to quickly digest something light before disappearing underground at the Sydney Town hall for his next encounter.<br> Spiders alive and deadly exhibition which opens from the 29 October, 2016 – 16 July 2017 at the Australian museum in Sydney <a href="http://australianmuseum.net.au/landing/spiders-alive-and-deadly/">http://australianmuseum.net.au/landing/spiders-alive-and-deadly/</a><br> <br> <br> <br> The Spider podcasts alive and deadly have been brought to you by The EATT magazine podcast as a preview to the city of Sydney stories soon to be released in 2017<br> Start your journey from the beginning and join the travel podcast here at<br> number 37 <a href="https://eattmag.com/the-travel-podcast/">https://eattmag.com/the-travel-podcast/</a><br> <br>
