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April 20, 2016
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A European garden spider.
European garden spiders are common throughout Europe and North America. Their webs serve as their entire sensory world; the spider uses it to distinguish between prey and predator, mate and foe. Studying the physics of those webs will help shed light on the behavior and ecology of one of Earth's most numerous animal groups.
Credit: Wilder Kaiser, via Creative Commons
Images credited to the National Science Foundation, a federal agency, are in the public domain. The images were created by employees of the United States Government as part of their official duties or prepared by contractors as "works for hire" for NSF. You may freely use NSF-credited images and, at your discretion, credit NSF with a "Courtesy: National Science Foundation" notation.
Additional information about general usage can be found in Conditions.
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