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And Finally
David Bowie and the spider from Malaysia
By CMU Editorial | Published on Tuesday 8 September 2009
David Bowie has had a rare spider named after him due, according to The Telegraph, to “his musical contribution to the arachnid world”. They are referring, of course, to Bowie’s 1972 album, ‘The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars’. This spider isn’t from Mars, though. It’s from Malaysia.
German arachnologist Peter Jäger told The Observer he chose the name Heteropoda Davidbowie because naming endangered spiders after celebrities helps to raise awareness of the fact that their natural habitats are being destroyed. He said: “It is working against time. We are also quickly losing genetic resources that have evolved over more than 300 million years”.
