TEAMWORK: WHEN ANIMAL ENEMIES UNITE - Studying species from snathes to birds to spiders, biologists are uncovering clues to how mutually beneficial relationships evolve between predator and prey

摘要

Mr. T, a tubby and fidgety fellow with shifty eyes and a forehead peppered with warts, cautiously enters a local hole-in-the-wall. The air inside is heavy, but the dimly lit walls are draped in exquisite silk. In a far corner, an immense figure with ahunched back and beady eyes crouches into fight position. That's when Mr. T—a narrow-mouthed toad—begins violently snapping his sticky tongue around the giant tarantula's burrow, ensnaring fleeing ants. After the feast, he settles down for a rest beneath the spider's hairy legs—an exceedingly brave move. "Tarantulas eat toads," says Eastern Michigan University spider ecologist Cara Shillington.