Eureka! by Scott LaFee

Of the 40,000 or so known species of spiders in the world, the spiders that are NOT carnivores can be counted on one hand. Actually, you don't even need one hand because spiders were, until recently, believed to be strictly predatory, feeding only on insects or other animals.

Now comes word of the first vegetarian spider, a jumping spider whose diet consists primarily of plant food.

The spider lives throughout Central America and southern Mexico, inhabiting several species of acacia shrubs that have evolved a co-evolutionary mutualism with certain ants. The ants fiercely guard the plants against most would-be herbivores, while the acacias provide both housing for the ants in hollow spines and food in the form of nectar excreted from specialized leaf tips called Beltian bodies. The spider is an interloper, stealing and eating both the nectar and Beltian bodies, while avoiding patrolling ants with its excellent eyesight, agility and superior cognitive skills.

The spider's name is Bagheera kiplingi, a reference to Rudyard Kipling's "Jungle Book" character, Bagheera — a panther who was, by all accounts, entirely carnivorous.

VERBATIM

If A equals success, then the formula is: A = X(plus)Y(plus)Z. X is work, Y is play and Z is keep your mouth shut.

— Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

BRAIN SWEAT

In 1832, Abigail Eischrank of Boston gave birth to 13 girls. Exactly half of them were girls. Explain.

PRIME NUMBERS

20 — Estimated savings in fuel costs, as a percentage, of a new ship's hull design that exudes slime. The slippery coating would continuously slough off, taking with it various barnacles and other marine life that accumulate on the ship's underside, creating energy-sapping drag.

Source: U.S.

Department of Defense; New Scientist

BRAIN SWEAT ANSWER

So were the other half.

'TRUE FACTS'

Plans are afoot to reintroduce the Asiatic cheetah into India, half a century after the big cat went extinct there. The rare subspecies survives only in Iran and perhaps Pakistan. Fewer than 100 are believed to remain in the wild. Previous efforts to restore the species fizzled in the 1970s after the Shah of Iran was deposed.

ANTHROPOLOGY 101

In Malaysia, pregnant women were advised not to relight a fire by blowing on its embers. It was believed if they did, their unborn child would grow up to be someone who sighed frequently.

PATENTLY ABSURD

Who hasn't looked at a room full of furniture and thought, "Wouldn't it be great if all of this stuff was just gone? Or at least floating on the ceiling?"

Well, someone did.

Patented in 1989, "floating furniture" is a line of inflatable beds, dressers, tables and chairs that can be filled with helium so that they hover above your head, out of the way and out of mind (unless they leak and land upon you). To actually use the furniture, one simply pulled them back to Earth with a tether and lashed the furniture to floor anchors.

WHERE IN THE WORLD? ANSWER

Death Valley at night. The celestial arc in the center of the image is the Milky Way. In the foreground is the Racetrack Playa, an expansive dried mud flat upon which large, scattered stones appear to move on their own, leaving behind a scraped track as evidence.

No one has ever seen the stones actually moving, but theories abound as to why. The prevailing view is that strong winter winds (up to 70 mph) following sufficient rain push the stones across a temporarily slippery plain.

To find out more about Scott LaFee and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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