 |
|
|
||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
|
February 22, 2002 |
||||
|
Wildlife show stars professor
A nationally syndicated television program featured Persons, whose claim to fame, was his research on spiders. The program aired Saturday, Feb. 16. The program, "Wild Moments," is a family-oriented program that focuses on teaching about various forms of wildlife. Naturalist and host Jack Hubley gives audiences a perspective on organisms in the environment. "Wild Moments" is a sector of NBC-Hearst-Argyle Television Productions and is viewed on a national scale. Persons has studied and conducted research on wolf spiders and their importance in the local environment, he said. "I was excited to hear that Jack Hubley and his film crew were interested in covering wolf spiders," Persons said. He added that many nature shows tend to feature vertebrates and other "warm and fuzzy" animals, not invertebrates like spiders. Persons noted that more than 95 percent of all animals are invertebrates. "I was always interested in buggy, creepy, crawly stuff," he said. In college, Persons had a professor who studied wolf spiders. From there, his interest was sparked and further driven by the fact that since few individuals actually study spiders, there is much to learn about them, he said. "Few people realize how complex spider behavior can be. They have complex communication systems. Spiders often have courtship displays more elaborate than many birds and ritualized aggression displays," Persons said. Also in praise of the creatures, Persons added that they "have more sophisticated cognitive abilities than anyone ever imagined -- spiders can navigate complex mazes, learn how to lure other spiders to their death by mimicking prey caught in webs and learn the motivational states of predators based only on silk and excreta." Persons said that he is glad that spiders can finally obtain long-deserved attention. The Wild Moments program allowed Persons to introduce the world of wolf spiders to the public, he said. |
NEWS HEADLINES Diversity needed in classroom Students perform benefit show New stadium becomes multifunctional Compeer seeks S.U. volunteers Volunteers repaint center Wildlife show stars professor P.R.S.S.A. students vote on futureWEEKLY FEATURES News Living & Arts University Update Forum Sports |
|||
|
Top Stories | News | Living & Arts | Forum | Sports |
|
||
| ||||
 | ||||
| ||||
