Up in the sky Beyond the chasm

Let the record show that at Riddled we have long been calling attention to the growing epidemic of Joints-turning-into-animals Syndrome, way back before it was fashionable.

With conventional medicine so far offering no cure, the desperate sufferers are resorting to all manner of alternative therapy. This man, in the early stages of the transformation, has travelled to Madagascar, under the impression that he will be cured by the bite of a ‘Darwin's bark spider’ Caerostris darwini (noted for constructing giant orb webs with anchor threads twice as strong as any other known silk).

He is dressed like that to remain unobtrusive, after cursory research with the Google convinced him that this was the Malagasy national costume.

Sadly, this particular specimen is not really a spider at all; it is in fact a decoy constructed from an old potato by the scary birds in the palmtree behind him, to distract his attention while they prepare their attack. This will not end well.

I for one am looking forward to PLoS-ONE reports like this:

Bioprospecting Finds the Toughest Biological Material: Extraordinary Silk from a Giant Subterranean Orb Spider

We examined the biomechanical properties of silk produced by the remarkable Voormithadreth ‘Smith's cavern spider’ (Atlachnacha smithii), which we predicted would produce exceptional silk based upon its amazing web. The spider constructs its giant orb web suspended above chasms, gulfs, and voids. It attaches the reticulation to substrates on each chasm-verge by gray, rope-thick strands as long as 25 meters. Dragline silk from both Atlachnacha webs and forcibly pulled silk, exhibits an extraordinary combination of high tensile strength and elasticity previously unknown for spider silk. A. smithii silk is more than twice tougher than any previously described silk, and over 10 times better than Kevlar®. Atlachnacha capture spiral silk is similarly exceptionally tough, but empirically not up to the weight of ponderous and slothlike entities.

UPDATE: Bonus Joints-turning-into-animals Syndrome.
OMFSM, animals can catch it too!!