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Welcome to Local Edition, you are in for a treat. I'm Brad Pomerance.
I am not the treat. Cheryl Hayashi is the treat. She is a professor at UC Riverside
in biology. She has brought us Jim Starrett, a Ph.D. candidate in genetics, and she
specializes in spider silk. Tell us about your research. We going to see spiders in a moment.
Tell us about your research.
[Hayashi] My lab works on the evolution of spiders and spider silk,
and we do fun things like, we characterize how strong, how stretchy, how
tough the different kinds of silks a spider makes are. [Pomerance] And silk is the web?
What they make webs with. [Hayashi] Yeah, they make webs, they cover their eggs with silk. They travel
using their silk. [Pomerance] Fantastic. [Hayashi] So we characterize the silk sort of as a fiber and
we also characterize silks, the actual genes that make them. [Pomerance] Now we're gonna
look at some bigger spiders right now. They're not the traditional kinds that give us
those beautiful webs in our garden, but they still have silk.
Let start with the Rose Hair
and I'm going to hold it. I'm so excited to hold this. Here he comes. Look at this beautiful
creature
[Hayashi] Yeah, a lot of people think of spiders...
[Pomerance] And you can see the rose here! Can you see that?
It's a rose color.
It's just beautiful. Tell us about this beautiful creature.
[Hayashi] Well this is a
Rose Hair Tarantula and this spider is native to South America
and what most people don't realize is that you know even a
spider like this relies on silk. [Pomerance] It does.
[Hayashi] So this spider uses silk to make her burrow, she also uses silk to wrap-up her eggs.
[Pomerance] Just beautiful. What's its prey? What does
this creature consume?
[Hayashi] Well, we feed this spider crickets in the lab. But in the wild
they'll eat all kinds of insects.
[Pomerance] And they don't capture through
webs, they capture through attack?
[Hayashi] Well, yeah, they capture through attack, but silk is still very
important for tarantulas. Often they might put little sensory trip lines out
made out of silk and then that way they can
scan a whole big area. [Pomerance] Jim, let me give you back this beautiful Rose Hair. Now we're going to go
to a Costa Rican Zebra Tarantula.
So tarantulas, Cheryl, are spiders? They're a breed? [Hayashi] They are a family of spiders.
[Pomerance] Terrific. [Hayashi] It's a family of spiders. [Pomerance] So this is... yeah...
[Hayashi] And they tend to be
kind of hairy like this.
[Pomerance] Oooh, look at this one. He is going! Whoa, whoa, whoa! [Hayashi] It's a she. [Pomerance] It's a she. Can we get...? OK, so we can...
yeah, Jim's camera grabbing it.
So right now you saw this move. Is it agitated? Are we irritating it by...
and that's why it is moving so much? Or? [Hayashi] It's just because she was taken
out of her cage and now she is
looking for another safe spot to hang out.
[Pomerance] But she is beautiful. [Hayashi] She's beautiful.
[Pomerance] So... here she goes... look at her go... whoa, whoa, whoa... I bet... Oh this is too much fun.
Why don't you grab our Costa Rican friend and tell us about that.
[Hayashi] So this is a Costa Rican Zebra Tarantula. And very prominent on this one you can
see the spinnerets on her rear end. [Pomerance] Right.
[Hayashi] So that's how she makes her silk. [Pomerance] Terrific. OK, well she's
a little bit persnickety, so we'll send her back.
Now, let's go to our final tarantula. It's a traditional California...
[Hayashi] It's a California Tarantula. We actually have quite a few tarantulas in California.
[Pomerance] Uh-huh... right. Are we OK with that she's back in her cage? [Hayashi] Yeah, she's back in her cage.
[Pomerance] I don't want to lose her.
So let's grab this one. This is also... so this is... is it native?
[Hayashi] Yes this one is.
This one is the California Tarantula and this one was
caught around Fresno.
[Pomerance] I think she just went to the bathroom on me.
And I'm okay with that. [Hayashi] Did she do that, really?
[Pomerance] She did! And I am OK with that because that's part of the cycle of life. [Hayashi] That is part of
the cycle of life. [Pomerance] She is
beige and brown and beautiful.
And tell us about her.
[Hayashi] Well, one thing you might see, do you see that sort of little bald patch on her rump?
[Pomerance] I do! I do!
[Hayashi] So what tarantulas... one of their defensive
maneuvers is they'll actually kickoff some of the hairs on their rear when...
[Pomerance] Because? [Hayashi] Well, if, you know, let's just say a little
a raccoon or coyote taking too much interest in them,
they'll turn their rear around
and flick off some hairs. And that usually sends them running. [Pomerance] And I presume that the three
that I held are not venomous?
[Hayashi] Well, they have venom that kills their insects,
but they're not active against us. [Pomerance] Cheryl, I'm so glad you joined us. Jim
I'm so glad you joined as well.
Thank you so much. If you want to learn more about the spiders you can go to the
UCR website?
[Hayashi] Yes. [Pomerance] Terrific.
I'm Brad Pomerance, for these three tarantulas, thank you for joining us on
Local Edition.