Lions and Tigers and SPIDERS!, Oh My. 
New researchers at Hastings include Emily MacLeod and Maria Modanu from the University of Toronto. They are here to study the Black Widow Spider. After several night searches, they found a decent population in the grassland around the lower barn. On Thursday, May 22, Emily told us the story of her research. Yes, female black widows do eat the males after breeding with them. Studying such a animal leads to all kinds of fun puns and comparisons, and Emily had a good time talking with the current Hastings resident biologists. We try to have someone give a talk every Thursday while we have tea and cake, or cookies, or something. Another new Hastings resident is Catherine Dale. And to keep us all in line, we have Torrey, our token Hastings resident 2 yr. old. Woo hoo!



From left; Eric, Julie, Torrey Walters, Andrea Gear, Rada Petric, Maria Modanu, Jessie Briggs, Catherine Dale, Ian Taff, Emily MacLeod, Caitlin Stern, Walt Koenig. Lower: Joseph Cheshier, John Waller. Not photographed were Mark or Barbara Stromberg, and Jaime del Valle.












Emily MacLeod explains the details of breeding in Black Widow Spiders to the Hastings residents during the regular Thursday seminar.