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The Anglican Church in Tasmania Search |
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a healthy church...transformingLIFE |
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Editor's angle |
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The spider and the wasp We were about to stack some newly delivered firewood, accompanied by two scarlet robins, those gorgeous opportunists who always turn up to pick out the insects in freshly cut wood. As I admired the deft movements of the robins I became aware of a very loud buzzing. Glancing upwards I saw something I have never seen before. Suspended from a whitegum branch was a very large black spider, and entangled with this spider was a very large (and angry) European wasp. Cautiously, I drew closer. I could see the wasp repeatedly lunging at the spider, while the spider attempted to hold the wasp in its jaws to inject its poison. Aerial combat of a very different kind was taking place here. Round and round they spun, the spider's spinnerets slowly winding out a glistening thread, so that as the combatants spun they descended slowly towards the woodpile below. Legs, wings, jaws, sting, all whirled madly in mid-air, accompanied by a frenzied buzzing. I don't know who disturbed whom. Spiders and wasps have rather different cultures, but one of them had obviously intruded on the other's patch. Two beautiful and complex creatures who normally mind their own business were now fighting to the death. The frenzy diminished as they lowered, and after only a few minutes the powerful combatants lay spent on the ground. Neither had won - each destroyed by the other. It all seemed so pointless. Purists say we should not 'anthropomorphise', i.e. attribute human qualities to non-humans. Hmm … there are times when it is tempting. |
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