To help her in her quest, she’s equipped with three superpowers.
First, an amazing approach to getting about.
Portia is a jumping spider…
able to leap up to 50 times her own body length.
Nowhere seems beyond her reach.
Next, her second superpower, superb eyesight…
essential if she is to distinguish her prey in all this clutter.
Because her prey doesn’t stray.
Portia is a spider-eating spider.
This raises a few problems.
Her lunch is three times her size…
packed with venom…
and surrounded by a sticky trap.
Mission impossible?
Not at all, because of her third superpower.
Portia is a genius.
She can map her world in three dimensions…
and formulate a plan of attack.
She can have an idea.
The web-builder is blind.
It won’t have a clue that she’s coming.
Right on target and safely behind those fangs.
But a mind as active as Portia’s can always do with more brain food.
Here, there’s no anchor point for the abseil.
But Portia has another idea.
Instead of going to the spider…
she will bring the spider to her.
She plucks the strands to imitate struggling prey…
drawing the spider in…
to its death.
