The Darwin’s bark spider silk has a tensile strength of around 1.6 gigapascals, several times stronger than structural iron, ...

High above the rivers of Madagascar, a small arachnid is quietly rewriting what I thought was possible in nature. The ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about biodiversity and the hidden quirks of the natural world. Long before modern predators stalked Madagascar’s forests, ...

Deep in Madagascar’s rainforests lives a spider no bigger than a coin, easy to miss and rarely noticed. Yet this tiny ...

Tom has a Master's degree in Journalism. His editorial work covers anything from archaeology and the environment to technology and culture. Tom has a Master's degree in Journalism. His editorial work ...

CC0 Usage Conditions ApplyClick for more information. Darwin's bark spider cast giant webs across streams, rivers and lakes, suspending the web’s orb above water and attaching it to plants on each ...

Have you ever heard of a spider that eats its own web? Chances are, you probably haven’t, but that is what Darwin’s bark spider is famous for. These spiders eat their own silk to produce more later, ...