Conventional wisdom says all spiders are carnivores.

Conventional wisdom may not have a leg to stand on, let alone eight.

Scientists have discovered a species of jumping spider in Mexico that appears to dine on acacia trees, although the arachnids occasionally do munch the passing ant.

The spider — Bagheera kiplingi (one in a family of jumping spiders named after the panther in Rudyard Kipling's "Jungle Book" stories) — is no wimpy vegetarian, however. It shares its acacia tree home with hordes of aggressive biting ants and must spend much of its time avoiding ant patrols.

In multiple observations, researchers from Villanova University watched the jumping spiders feed upon acacia leaflet tips, which are rich in protein and fats. Occasionally, the spiders even sipped nectar from flowers. And when the opportunity arose, they snatched ant larvae from passing nursemaids.

A few other spider species are known to sample vegetarian fare on occasion — male crab spiders waiting to mate atop flowers will sample the nectar for an energy boost, and some baby spiders eat spores caught in webs — but Bagheera kiplingi appears to be the first to primarily go greens.

VERBATIM

As a factor in climate change, it's pretty clear that we don't have any indication that this is important at all.

— Norwegian climate scientist Jon Egil Kristjansson on unproven assertions that cosmic rays affect cloud formation, an idea popular with climate-change skeptics

BRAIN SWEAT

If 11 plus 2 equals 1, what does 9 plus 5 equal?

BRAIN SWEAT ANSWER

Two. Think in terms of time. Eleven o'clock plus two hours equals 1 o'clock. Nine o'clock plus five hours equals 2 o'clock.

PRIME NUMBERS

53.2 — Number of fewer miles, in billions, that Americans have driven in the past eight months compared with the year-ago period

634 — Number of primate species in world

317 — Number of primate species currently facing threat of extinction

764-plus — Temperature, in degrees Fahrenheit, of water at two deep-sea vents in the Atlantic Ocean. It's the hottest recorded water on Earth and considered to be "supercritical," meaning that heat and pressure have combined to make the fluid denser than steam but lighter than liquid water.

Sources: U.S. Department of Transportation; International Union for Conservation of Nature; Andrea Koschinsky, University of Bremen; New Scientist

'TRUE FACTS'

Early American farmers painted their barns with a homemade concoction of milk, lime, linseed oil and iron oxide. The last ingredient provided the familiar rusty-red color.

ELECTRON INK

OneGeology

onegeology.org

OneGeology is a collaboration of geologists and scientists around the world to produce the first fully digital geological maps of the world. You can see early results here.

QUIRKS OF NATURE

Wild orangutans apparently self-medicate. Researchers have observed apes in Indonesia chewing on Commelina leaves, reducing the leaves to paste, then smearing the paste on their limbs. Commelina leaves contain a naturally occurring anti-inflammatory that local humans also use to treat aches and pains.

PATENTLY ABSURD

Gum exercising device

U.S. Patent No. 1,466,559

Who hasn't thought: "Boy, I sure wish I had stronger gums?"

Well, maybe not so much now, but back in the 1920s, this was apparently a concern. Enough so that inventor Charles G. Purdy of Brooklyn, N.Y., developed a plate attached to a spring, the other end of which would be attached to a wall or other immovable object.

The idea was to hook up the spring to a wall, bite down on the plate, and then jerk one's head back repeatedly. In theory, the resulting tension and resistance helped bulk up one's gums and jaw muscles. Users could also attach a second plate to the other end of the spring so that couples could exercise together.

Or possibly suffer joint bloody noses.

ANTHROPOLOGY 101

In China, there's a tradition of gathering together the clothes one intends to be buried in upon death, presumably many years later. It was common for elderly people to take their "grave clothes" out of storage once a year and wear them on their birthdays.

WHAT IS IT ANSWER

Yes, we know what it looks like, but no, it's not the world's smallest toilet. It's actually a flaw on an integrated circuit, magnified 15,000 times. The image earned top honors in the "Most Bizarre" category in this year's photo contest for the 49th International Conference on Electron, Ion and Photo Beam Technology and Nanofabrication. Takahashi Kaito of SII Nanotechnology in Oyama, Shizuoka, Japan took the scanning electron micrograph.

To find out more about Scott LaFee and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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