YELLOWSTONE'S WILD WORLD

Most of us don’t pay attention to the things we can’t see. And that really is pretty logical. But over the years I have learned that if you go on a field trip with an entomologist you see insects that were there all the time but you never paid attention to them. If you go with a botanist you see plants, and learn to understand and appreciate them. If you go with a geologist you don’t see rocks or dirt, you see the history of the earth (and sometimes you get to hear them complain about all of the damn plants that are covering up “their” geology.) We all look at this earth differently based on what we know. That is why it is so wonderful to know at least a little about all of the different areas of the natural sciences.
My husband and I sometimes play a game when we are traveling called “65 mph plant identification.” It is great fun until one of us disagrees on the other guy’s plant name. Then we have to do a U-turn, usually bet some money, go back and look. Then the winner gloats for a while, while the looser slumps down and pretends to go to sleep, if they aren’t driving. Knowing about the world around you makes traveling so much more memorable and fun. It does slow you down sometimes though, but it’s worth it.
I’ve said all of the above as a preamble to the fact that I love spiders. I want you to think about something for a minute: Most people don’t like animals with a non-regulation number of legs. Two is OK (humans). Four is OK (dogs, cats, horses, etc, etc.). But 0 is not enough (snakes) and six (insects) and especially 8 (spiders) are too many. I ask you: How many pets do you know that you can leave for 3, 4, 5, or even 6 months and come back home to find they are OK. I don’t care how big the water and food bowls are, most pets would not be OK, but spiders are. In fact they might not have even known you were gone. But mine know when I get home because I have them trained to “come” when I stick a live moth in their web. They still don’t come when I just call their name though.
Jumping spiders are some of my favorites because of their eyes. Many spiders have rather poor eye sight but not jumping spiders. They have 8 eyes and the front 2 are really big. The two front eyes allow them to see things in 3 dimensions so they can very accurately jump on their prey. As their name implies they move around quite a bit looking for prey although they do build a web or “pup tent” out of silk to over- winter in, shelter from bad weather and store their eggs.

Jumping spiders live on every continent on Earth, except Antarctica and can be found In Yellowstone in the warmer months.