While human mothers received elaborate bouquets or harried text messages for Mother’s Day, the other mothers of the animal kingdom dealt with the threat of predators and scrounged for food to feed their young.
While spiders are mostly harmless, many people scream, run away or stomp on them at first sight. Thus the vast biodiversity of arachnids is often overlooked due to their frightening appearance. From Oc. 24 to Jan. 31, the exhibit “Arachnophilia: A Passion for Spiders” was on display at Mann Library.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I envision myself with a couple thousand spiders in my lab,” said senior lecturer Dr. Linda Rayor, entomology. As a behavioral ecologist, Rayor focuses on the interactions of group-living animals — currently spiders — and teaches an array of classes ranging from insect behavior to scientific outreach. Rayor said she decided to become a scientist at a very young age, but never foresaw a future working with insects and arachnids. As a child, Rayor said she remembers frequenting the Denver Zoo in Colorado, which she said helped kindle her interest in science, natural investigation and animals. Despite this, she said she chose to pursue molecular biology as an undergraduate at University of Colorado Boulder.