Spider silk. Female golden orb spider (Nephila sp.) producing silk. The Nephila spiders are a tropical genus which spin enormous webs up to two metres

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Spider silk. Female golden orb spider (Nephila sp.) producing silk. The Nephila spiders are a tropical genus which spin enormous webs up to two metres across. Their silk is amongst the strongest known, and their webs often catch small birds. Spider silk is, weight for weight, stronger than steel. It is hoped that studying the structure of the silk will lead to new methods of producing artificial fibres of a similar strength.

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Size: 3547px × 2480px
Photo credit: © PASCAL GOETGHELUCK/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: animal, arachnida, golden, invertebrates, nature, nephila, orb, silk, sp., spider, wildlife, zoology