Rare Spider Named After David Bowie

John Funk

U.N. Owen Was Him?
Dec 20, 2005
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Rare Spider Named After David Bowie



A newly-discovered rare yellow spider has been named after rock star David Bowie in an effort to raise awareness about the number of arachnid species facing extinction.

As reports the Daily Telegraph [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/6150060/Rare-yellow-spider-named-after-David-Bowie.html], the Heteropoda davidbowie is characterized by its large size and bristly yellow hair, and is only found in parts of Malaysia.

Peter Jäger, the German spider expert who discovered the Heteropoda davidbowie (and that is a name I doubt I'll get tired of saying anytime soon) said that he named the spider after the famous British musician in order to promote awareness about arachnid species on the brink of extinction - because for all we're all "save the whales, save the whales!" humanity rarely pays attention to our eight-legged friends. Unless, of course, we're being bitten by them in order to receive superpowers.

Though traditional environmental authorities are reluctant to place species like spiders on official endangered lists, Jäger believes that mindset is a mistake, and that the decline of arachnid species "undermine's natures genetic diversity." Last year, the Rameshwaram Parachute Spider was placed on a "red list" of extremely endangered species, with less than 500 specimens thought to remain on the Indian island of Rameshwaram thanks to deforestation.

But why Bowie, of all people? Why not Heteropoda peterparker? Why, because Bowie previously promoted awareness of spider-well-being with his 1972 concept album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, and his backup band of the same name. True, they might have been Martian spiders, but spiders nonetheless. So, Heteropoda davidbowie it is.

In other news, research suggests that girls may be born with an inherent and instinctual fear of spiders [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/6128943/Girls-are-born-afraid-of-spiders.html]. Whether or not anybody is born with an inherent and instinctual fear of David Bowie has yet to be studied.

Hey, how do you kill the Bowie Spider? With a Bowie Knife! Hah! (Only don't, because they might be endangered).

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Simalacrum

Resident Juggler
Apr 17, 2008
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CantFaketheFunk said:
Hey, how do you kill the Bowie Spider? With a Bowie Knife! Hah!
...Funk, that joke has killed a part of my soul. I hope your happy! *crys*

On topic, I guess a lot of celebrities get named after newly discovered animals... I wouldn't be too happy if I was named after a spider, mind you!

edit: woops, I meant if a spider was named after me :p
 

BlindTom

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Aug 8, 2008
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I can never quite work out what sort of news the escapist will actually report... There must be an 'awesome news' category that's throwing me off.
 

Cpt_Oblivious

Not Dead Yet
Jan 7, 2009
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A spider named after David Bowie?
What's next, a bat named after Ozzy Osbourne?

BlindTom said:
I can never quite work out what sort of news the escapist will actually report... There must be an 'awesome news' category that's throwing me off.
I think it's gaming related stuff and whatever the staff think is cool.
 

DrunkWithPower

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Apr 17, 2009
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Damn it, if a type of raccoon I could make a joke about "Oh! you pretty things. I have nothing for spiders. That's cool though, even Stephen Colbert has a spider named after him.
 

hansari

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May 31, 2009
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Ugh...that David Bowie picture is trying...but nothing can beat the Kojima duck pic...
 

brabz

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Jan 3, 2008
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It's pretty badass to be at a level of fame where your name becomes a species. Then again, I'm a little biased since I was named after Mr. Bowie.
 

El Poncho

Techno Hippy will eat your soul!
May 21, 2009
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I would like a species named after me, that would be awesome.
 

Lauren Admire

Rawrchiteuthis
Aug 8, 2008
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Wow, they have completely thrown Latinized binomial nomenclature out the window. They should have at least gone for Heteropoda goblinking.
 

VincentX3

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Jun 30, 2009
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because for all we're all "save the whales, save the whales!" humanity rarely pays attention to our eight-legged friends.
Were's that dude with the "Nuke the whales" avatar!? THE WORLD NEEDS HIM!
 

Guestowel

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Oct 9, 2008
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This is pretty cool! I have always liked David Bowie, I can't wait for him to fuck some shit up in the new season of Venture Brothers