“UK’s largest spider” has made a “come back from the brink of extinction”.
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| The Fen Raft Spider – “UK’s largest spider”. Photo: Ben Andrew (rspb-images.com) via @chesterzoo |
The fen raft spider which looks “big and scary” however “harmless, plays a vital role within healthy aquatic ecosystems” – almost went into extinction “15 years ago after people destroyed its wetland home”.
According to Chester Zoo: “We’ve helped the UK’s LARGEST spider come back from the brink of extinction!
While they may look big and scary, the fen raft spider is harmless and plays a VITAL role within healthy aquatic ecosystems. However, 15 years ago, they almost became extinct after people destroyed its wetland home.
To help save this unique species, back in 2011, our experts set about rearing hundreds of baby spiders in individual test tubes (so they didn’t eat each other!) as part of a collaborative conservation breeding rescue programme.”
It is estimated that, “there are 10,000 breeding females across the UK.”
The ‘wildlife charity’ added: “Our team delicately hand fed tiny flies to each of the hundreds of spiderlings using tweezers, day in, day out, for weeks on end in our bio-secure breeding facility. Eventually, the young spiders grew strong enough to be returned to their natural habitat, which our partners worked to restore, and we released them in their hundreds!
Now, almost a decade and a half later, our friends at the @Natures_Voice estimate there are 10,000 breeding females across the UK, and they’re having their best year on record.”
