Past Programs
Animals - 2008
The extraordinary lives of spiders: Bert Brunet and Paul Hillyard
22/09/2008
Did you know that scientists are putting spider DNA into Nigerian goats, that little Miss Muffett's father wrote the first English language book about spiders, or that spider silk is the strongest fabric on earth, the closest other fabric being Kevlite which is used to make bullet proof vests? Spiders have been around for 400 million years and they are miracles of survival and adaptation. They also do everything we do to attract lovers and repel enemies: they dance, dress up and play music by plucking on their webs.
Kirsten Garrett has been looking at two books about spiders; The Private Life of Spiders by Paul Hillyard, which is a study of spiders across the world, and Spiderwatch, about Australian spiders, written by Bert Brunet.
Marsupial mysteries Read Transcript
02/06/2008
Fragile Balance: The Extraordinary story of Australian Marsupials gathers together current knowledge about marsupials in one volume. It's written by Professor Christopher Dickman and illustrated by wildlife artist Rosemary Woodford Ganf. Some of the creatures featured are astonishingly beautiful and others are very rare. The book reveals that the daily lives of marsupials can be quite passionate, and that they have unusual abilities to pre-ordain the gender of their offspring.
