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Travis McEnery @travismcenery.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I don't know who lives in this house but they've made a pretty great Halloween spider. As Halloween spider decorations go, it's pretty good! It seems to be missing pedipalps, but I'll overlook that for its sheer size and the details it got right.

A giant spider statue (looks like a black widow) in front of a suburban house.

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Travis McEnery @travismcenery.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

The Royal Canadian Mint is actually producing a $20 coin honouring the spider. It can be yours for only $240. Still pretty cool that they did it, though. www.mint.ca/en/shop/coin...

mint.ca

Nature’s Delight: The Spider – 1 oz. Fine Silver Coin | The Royal Canadian Mint

A web of wonder: Nature’s geometry, glistening in the sunlight.

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Travis McEnery @travismcenery.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I got this comment today and had to check out the username. Turns out this is a channel that is exactly what it sounds like: a YouTube channel about pencils. I love that this exists. There truly is a niche for everything. youtube.com/@pencilspast...

A Youtube comment that says "I saw a pencil at 25:22 I also spotted another one at 26:21

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Travis McEnery @travismcenery.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

I've wanted to cover this species for a couple of years now, and finally was able to. If you like spiders with big munchdongles, this one is for you. Meet the Woodlouse Hunter. youtu.be/inqJzl5hWFo?...

youtu.be

The Woodlouse Hunter - The Spiders in Your House

YouTube video by Travis McEnery

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Travis McEnery @travismcenery.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

This was more complicated than even I thought when I set out to make the video, but I'm glad I did! It was a lot of fun, and the reality of this is really cool. youtu.be/djfoUWZbLn8?...

youtu.be

How Spiders REALLY Eat their Prey (and it isn't by just sucking blood)

YouTube video by Travis McEnery

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Travis McEnery @travismcenery.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Any guesses how THIS is going to figure into the video I'm working on? Practical demonstrations require weird things sometimes.

A clear plastic bottle containing green fluid, with a paper label that says "Random Green Stuff".

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Travis McEnery @travismcenery.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Hey Canada! Nature Conservancy Canada is running their Big Backyard Bioblitz to collect data from around the country, from Julyn27th to August 3rd. Sign up, grab your phones, and get outside! secure.natureconservancy.ca/site/SPageNa...

secure.natureconservancy.ca

The Big Backyard Bioblitz

Help celebrate and document the diverse species across our beautiful country

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Reposted by Travis McEnery

Charles Louis Richter @richterscale.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

bees writing racist tracts about "the elephant question"

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Travis McEnery @travismcenery.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

I have just learned that some Dolomedes spider females will sometimes attack, kill, and eat a courting male without mating with him, and this has nothing to do with their recent foraging success or failure. "No, it's not that I'm even hungry, I just REALLY don't like you." *chomp*

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Travis McEnery @travismcenery.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

It only took me three months or so... but it's finally finished. Wanna learn about spider silk? Here ya go. Big thanks to Dr. Lisa Zeußel and Leslie Brunetta for the interviews. youtu.be/vqsMYw7vKbk

youtu.be

Spider Silk: Nature's Super-Material Explained

YouTube video by Travis McEnery

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Travis McEnery @travismcenery.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

This new book by Dr. Stephanie Dole (aka Dr. Beetlelady) is fantastic. For any kids in your life (it's aimed at ages 8-12), "Bug Power" depicts various invertebrates as having superhero-powers with great illustrations, alongside excellent photos and real-life information. More in alt-text!

Dr. Stephanie Dole's "Bug Power", now available wherever you get books. The illustrations are fantastic, super-imaginitive, and fun (there's even a subtle Star Wars reference in there), but pairing that with detailed photos and real science makes this a uniquely engaging book. This is the kind of book that moves kids from "ew" to "oh wow" when they encounter invertebrates.

And no, I'm not getting paid to say this, the publisher just sent me a copy for review (thanks to them btw!).

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Travis McEnery @travismcenery.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

My co-worker at my day job has a camo-painted travel mug. He keeps setting it down somewhere and then finds himself unable to find it again. We work in a hardware store.

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Travis McEnery @travismcenery.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

Spent a few minutes brush-beating just for fun in my yard today since the sun was out, and into my bin fell this little guy. I believe this to be Hentzia mitrata, though I'm not positive on the species. Regardless, it's the first of this genus I've ever found here at home. #spidersky #Pentax

A jumping spider posed on some cardboard. Pentax K-5ii, 100mm Macro WR, Promaster flash w/ homebuilt diffuser

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Travis McEnery @travismcenery.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

Ten weeks. Ten weeks of work is what it took to produce the first draft of the script for the spider silk video, and the first draft sucks. But it's a finished draft. Gonna have a beer now. Revisions are a tomorrow problem.

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Travis McEnery @travismcenery.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Nobody talks about how much fun it is to read science from the 1700's. This is from Francois Xavier Bon's "A Discourse on the Usefulness of the Silk of Spiders", published in Philosophical Transactions Volume 27, in 1710. "Parts of Generations" is wonderfully euphemistic.

An image of a page from the text that reads "The hinder part of the body of this insect is joyned to the fore-part only by a small thread, and cover'd with a thin skin, on which are hairs of divers colours: it contains the Back, Belly, Parts of Generations, and the Anus. I shall apply my self more particularly to the Description of the Aunus, as being the Part from whence the Spiders draw their Silk; it not being my design to give a Genral Description of this Insect, but only to speak of their Silk, and the Usefulness of it. It is certain, that all Spiders spin their THread from the Aunus; about which there are five Papillae, or small Nipples, which at first sight one would take for so many Spindles, that serve to form the Thread: I have found these Papillae to me Muscular, and furnished with a Sphincter. A little within these I have observ'd two others, from the middle of which issue several Threads, in a pretty large quantity, sometimes more, and sometimes less, which the Spiders make use of...

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Travis McEnery @travismcenery.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

Ok, so understandably there's a lot of hate for AI. But a question for the science-y folks out there: what's your feeling on AI-assisted research search engines like Consensus or Undermind? My initial experiments with Consensus were good. Thoughts?

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Travis McEnery @travismcenery.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

Honestly, I was weirdly impressed with just how well-crafted Gemini's BS was. I know it's not built to do this, but it's interesting to see what it does when you ask it to. And kinda terrifying. youtu.be/5CWFTd2O9iM

youtu.be

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Travis McEnery @travismcenery.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Trying to learn how spider silk is actually made in the silk gland from reading the literature alone is like trying to learn how an internal combustion engine works by reading repair manuals that assume you already understand how an internal combustion engine works.

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Travis McEnery @travismcenery.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

Hey #spidersky - need some research help. I'm trying to find any data on the yield point of flagelliform/capture spiral silk. I can find some stress-strain curves but I can't see a yield point on them and my own FAFO-ing suggests it remains elastic MUCH longer than MA silk. Anyone?

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Travis McEnery @travismcenery.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

Just had my crappy laptop crash while trying to use it to place an order for a new laptop.

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Travis McEnery @travismcenery.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

Spider people! Anyone out there doing any work on Microhexura montivaga? Or does anyone know if any surveys are happening this year? Got a friend looking into them.

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Travis McEnery @travismcenery.bsky.social · 15/02/2026

Well this is neat. "For the first time in global legal history, a country has recognized the legal rights of insects, and it is the stingless bees of the Peruvian Amazon that are taking the first step toward a new model of coexistence between nature and the law." share.google/hjumfhhF2gJo...

share.google

For the first time in global legal history, a country has recognized the legal rights of insects, and it is the stingless bees of the Peruvian Amazon that are taking the first step toward a new model ...

Peru just made history: stingless bees in the Amazon now have legal rights, letting communities sue to defend hives and habitat.

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Travis McEnery @travismcenery.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

What exactly do you propose I do with THIS, Old El Paso?

One taco shell nestled inside another, with the first one solidified into a completely closed position, the top edges literally touching each other making it impossible to put anything in without cracking it, all in front of an Old El Paso taco shell box.

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Travis McEnery @travismcenery.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

Me in a corporate workplace lunchroom: ME: Hey, can I sit with you guys? COLLEAGUE: Only if you promise not to talk about spiders. ME: Okay, I promise. COLLEAGUE: Good, because nobody wants to hear about gross poisonous insects. ME: OKAY FIRST OF ALL

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Travis McEnery @travismcenery.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

Had someone try to explain to me yesterday that "peer review" was a concept invented by - or "owned by", it wasn't entirely clear - Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislane Maxwell for some nefarious, deceptive purpose. Yes, this is a person who "does their own research". Wild.

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Reposted by Travis McEnery

Jessica Coles @prairievixen.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

As someone who has both a spider and a lizard under her care, this is very specific to my interests. 🥰

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Travis McEnery @travismcenery.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

My kid is as good as I am, apparently. We played twice and came away with a win apiece. We're both beginners essentially, but we're both learning and he specifically brushed up on variations to punish my typical Caro-Kann...

A chessboard on a wood table, with a vintage Soviet chess clock next to it.

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Travis McEnery @travismcenery.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

Learning about supercooling and I just read about how pure water can be cooled to -10C and remain liquid, but if you then shake it, it flash freezes, and I said out loud to myself "Oh that would be super-cool" then realized what I said and laughed... I'm alone in the lunchroom.

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Travis McEnery @travismcenery.bsky.social · 18/01/2026

Hey scientists: what do you folks do when a primary source you want to look at is in a language you don't speak? Rainer Foelix is a great starting point for stuff but a lot of his sources are entirely in German and my German ist nicht gut genug.

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Travis McEnery @travismcenery.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

This one took longer than I expected, because I had no idea how unusual these spiders actually were. Who knew they were so full of surprises? With help from the fantastic Dr. Giulia Zancolli! youtu.be/2TE9xZDnvM8

youtu.be

The Featherlegged Orbweaver - The Spiders in Your Yard

YouTube video by Travis McEnery

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Travis McEnery @travismcenery.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

Just discovered that there is spider poop on my spider book.

The cover of Sarah Rose's "Spiders of North America", with droplets of spider poop on it.

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Travis McEnery @travismcenery.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

Get it TOGETHER, robot. Those are not calamistra.

An AI overview response about the tufts of hair on the tibiae of the first pair of legs on Uloborus spiders, which identifies them as calamistra, which is actually a totally different comb-like structure on the fourth pair of legs.

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Travis McEnery @travismcenery.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

Whoever built this coffeemaker clearly never watched Red Dwarf. Or they did and they're cheeky.

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Travis McEnery @travismcenery.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

Going through the #Darktable library as i'm working on this script and came across this image of a long-jawed orbnweaver that I'd forgotten all about. Tetragnatha sp., probably either T. elongata or T. versicolor but I'm not sure which. I like how the glue drops are visible on the capture spiral.

A long-jawed orb weaver out on the capture spiral of her web, with glue drops visible on the capture spiral.

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Travis McEnery @travismcenery.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

The spider dangling in front of my monitor as I look at a spider photo...

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Travis McEnery @travismcenery.bsky.social · 27/11/2025

I believe I have just successfully imaged trichobothria in an identifiable way with my own equipment and this is one of those tiny accomplishments that make me disproportionately happy.

A microscope photo of femurs I and II and the prosoma of a featherlegged orbweaver. Just barely visible on femur II are the long, fine hairs that are identifiably trichobothria.

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Reposted by Travis McEnery

Madhusudan 🦉 Katti @leafwarbler.myatproto.social · 20/11/2025

Sharpen your pencils & channel your outrage: the 30-day public comment period starts Friday. They tried changing rules earlier this year and got ~357,700 comments—vehemently against any changes in language that undermine ESA protections. Months later, the proposed rules have not yet been adopted!

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Travis McEnery @travismcenery.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

This is the shortest video I've made in a long time, but climbing into a spider-filled cranberry bog was a lot of fun! Yes, the shorts and TikToks were mostly right, but there's more to the story. youtu.be/QZQztMeCFo4?...

youtu.be

The Truth About Spiders and Cranberries

YouTube video by Travis McEnery

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Travis McEnery @travismcenery.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

I truly enjoyed the collaborative nature of making this video, and you might enjoy that mine is not the only face in it. This topic is amazing. youtu.be/_QF6kaOAuYg?...

youtu.be

Spider Cognition: How Tiny Brains Do Mighty Things

YouTube video by Travis McEnery

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Travis McEnery @travismcenery.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

What, are Australian families a different size than average Canadian ones? Does it take more, or less, beef to feed an Australian family?

A price label on a package of meat at a grocery store, with the product description written as "BEEF AUSTRALIAN FAMILY SIZE TOP SIRLOIN STEAK"

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Travis McEnery @travismcenery.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

Somebody please tell me I am not the only nerd to ever bring hot sauce to work in a specimen vial.

A burrito sits on a table next to a glass vial full of Frank's hot sauce.

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Travis McEnery @travismcenery.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

Here's where I found myself this morning. On spider-related business. Obviously. If you're a spider nerd, you've probably seen the shorts about this. Turns out they're not WRONG, really, but they could be a bit... less wronger. Work is in progress.

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