Arachnophobes look away: The giant 8cm long fish eating spiders being reintroduced into the wild
- Great raft spiders so rare staff fed them using a special mouth tube
- Plans will see them reintroduced to the
Arachnophobes look away: The giant 8cm long fish eating spiders being reintroduced into the wild
- Great raft spiders so rare staff fed them using a special mouth tube
- Plans will see them reintroduced to the Norfolk Broads
By Mark Prigg
Ecologists have released hundreds of Britain's largest breed of spider into the wild - which can grow to eight centimetres.
The great raft spider has been saved by a breeding programme involving ten zoos.
With a leg span of up to 8cm, the arachnid is capable of catching and eating a fish as it glides across the surface of water.
An adult male great raft spider similar to the ones which are being released as part of a Bristol Zoo conservation programme. They can grow to 8cm long
THE GREAT RAFT SPIDER
As with most spiders, the female is the larger sex.
This semiaquatic creature dines on small water-based insect larvae, sticklebacks, tadpoles and other small spiders.
Just three populations are believed to exist in the UK after they were ravaged by agricultural drainage.
Around 200 baby spiders have already been released at the RSPB's Strumpshaw Fen reserve near Norwich.
Ecologist Dr Helen Smith said: 'Most invertebrate groups don't receive a lot of conservation effort.
'The ones that tend to receive the attention are the big and spectacular ones... this is very much the case with great raft spiders.
'They're big, they're beautiful and they have to fly the flag for other species.'
Funding from Natural En