Madagascar Nephila: This spider spins golden threads. A square meter of fabric from such a web costs 500 thousand dollars. What is this money for? (7 photos)

Eight-legged, poisonous, scary... Spiders are usually associated with something unpleasant and dangerous. Who would have known that the Madagascar nephila would create a golden web that all fashion designers and the richest fashionistas of all countries pray for!





Once upon a time there lived a couple of hard workers in Madagascar, their names were Simon Pearce and Nicholas Godley. We made bags until we got tired of it. And in the same Madagascar lived the nephila orb-weaving spider. The stars aligned so that the paths of people and the spider converged. So fashion designers tried a new craft: weaving fabric from nephila thread.

It must be said that they cannot be called innovators in the full sense of the word. Spinning threads from spider webs was tried in ancient China. And on the coast of the Indian Ocean, fishermen still have fun with this: they roll the web of nephiles into a ball and throw it into the water. In the water, the ball unfolds and the fish become entangled in the nets. Here you have gold threads instead of a goldfish. And it is still unknown which is more expensive. The fabric is really golden in color. And in terms of strength, it is stronger than steel thread of the same thickness.



It was these qualities of the nephilic thread that attracted Pearce and Godley. They collected material for their creativity for several years. No wonder: to get 28 grams of such yarn, you need to pick 23,000 spiders. But here there was a larger scope. It took several more years to weave a whole cape dress with the help of local craftsmen.





This is a nightmare factory, not a thread factory!

For this purpose, recipes from the 19th century were used: spider silk was used in the past for the robes of the rulers of Madagascar. Among the methods of collecting thread there is a truly jewelry one: the spider is placed in a separate box and the precious material is carefully pulled out.



The fabric was decorated with thematic embroidery - spiders and geometric shapes that look like a spider's web.

Finally, in 2012, the result of the work of eighty people and approximately one and a half million spiders was presented in London, at the Victoria and Albert Museum. The resulting dress weighed about a kilogram. The product had not only elasticity and a luxurious golden color, but also rare strength. Such that manufacturers of body armor are now looking with interest towards the nephiles.



This is how beautiful the end result was.

But you can’t yet dream of walking the red carpet in a golden outfit or even showing up to the beach in a bulletproof bikini. The material is estimated at 500 thousand dollars per square meter. And the nephiles are not going to make life easier for fashionistas and fashionistas. Eight-legged glamor queens know their worth: they have high demands on living conditions and are not going to reproduce easily in captivity. If changes in temperature and humidity do not suit them, you will not achieve offspring.



It's too dry here! And now it's too wet! In short, you won’t get children from me, leave me alone!

In addition, cannibalism is popular among nephiles, as is often the case among spiders. Their males are incomparably smaller than females, and a beautiful nephila can inadvertently send her gentleman into the mouth instead of some insect. The same problems arise when keeping only females. Give each person at least a meter of free space. And try to create a dormitory for an entire factory of such weavers. Place the spiders together, and the hungry ladies will deal with their competitors even faster than with their suitors. Moreover, they also contain more protein.



Lunch break at a Madagascar factory.

It must be said that the nephila eats in full accordance with the rules of high society: properly serving the spoils. She quickly entwines the caught victim with a web, hangs it by a loop from a leg, climbs into a place of honor in the center of the web, turns over with her belly up, and only then begins to gobble up the resulting shawarma with appetite. But all this beauty is for yourself, your beloved, and not for mass production!