06 September 2009

Ziggy Stardust and the spider from Malaysia

According to the ObserverDavid Bowie has had a newly discovered Malaysian spider named in his honour.

The giant yellow spider has been named Heteropoda davidbowie was discovered by biologists Peter Jäger, who has discovered 200 new species in the past 10 years. Most of these arachnids are endangered, and by naming spiders after celebrities Jäger hopes to attract public attention to the dangers facing each species. "It is working against time," he says. "Along with the species, we are also quickly losing genetic resources that have evolved over more than 300 million years."

Bowie shares the honour of having a spider named after him with Nina Hagen, a German punk singer and a definite blast from the past! I hope this ploy does help get attention to the vulnerabity of these species

What with the Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars I suppose it was inevitable. It was also inevitable I would use this news item as an excuse for a Bowie vid... so here goes

11 comments:

Skuds said...

Was it a glass spider??

jams o donnell said...

Being yellow and black perhaps a stained glass spider!

CherryPie said...

I am glad there isn't a picture of the spider!

jams o donnell said...

For God's sake don't dwell on my next post Cherie!

James Higham said...

What were Bowie's thoughts on this?

jams o donnell said...

I hope he will be tickled pink. I would be in the same situation

Anneke (Mudhooks) said...

Ahhhh... That's why...

jams o donnell said...

There you go Anneke!

pudenda shenanigans said...

what's the name of Nina Hagen's spider? a search of "ninahagen" didn't bring anything

jams o donnell said...

Sorry can't help on that. The news item didn't actually say

pudenda shenanigans said...

Yeah none of them say. Oh well. Thanks anyway!