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Thursday, October 28, 2010

Photo: Sexual Prime Peaks When Males "Smell" Mates, Spider Study Shows


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A female Australian redback spider (right) devours a dead male after sex.

New research shows that male redback spiders can mature more quickly when many females are close by, but when potential mates are far away, they bulk up for an extended journey in search of sex.

Photograph by Ken Jones, © MCB Andrade 2003