COOL JOBS: STUDYING WHAT YOU LOVE

Biologist Wayne Maddison explores tropical forests searching for new species of jumping spiders. Credit: W. Maddison, Beaty Biodiversity Museum

Wayne Maddison was 13 years old when he fell in love. Standing on the shore of Lake Ontario in Canada, he noticed a mat of grass. On top of the mat was a small spider with metallic green jaws. “She looked up at me,” says Maddison. “So of course I looked down at her and I thought, Wow!” Intrigued by her looks, Maddison wanted to know more about this colorful species.

Maddison took the spider home, fed her and named her Phiddy. When she later laid eggs, Maddison raised one of the babies. Today, Maddison is a biologist at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, where he studies spiders full-time. He even travels to remote jungles around the world, searching for new species.

The spider that Maddison saw on Lake Ontario was a jumping spider. These spiders have eight eyes: six that look around in different directions and two that look straight ahead. The spiders jump from leaf to leaf. When they find prey, such as a beetle or an ant, they pounce on it like a cat.

After Maddison got interested in jumping spiders, he bought a field guide and started looking for spiders on family trips. He made detailed drawings and learned how to examine spiders under a microscope. He wrote letters to scientists who studied spiders, requesting copies of their articles or asking for help identifying a species that was new to him. He even visited university professors to chat with them about jumping spiders.

Now, Maddison travels around the world in search of new spiders. He has explored tropical forests in Ecuador, Malaysia, Gabon, Papua New Guinea and the Caribbean. About half the species his team collects have never been described by scientists before.

- Read the text carefully and write all the words you don’t understand. Search for their mining in a dictionary and write the translation down. Write, at least, 15 words.

- Write, in Catalan, one sentence that summarizes each paragraph.

- Which questions do you think Wayne Maddison asked himself when he saw for the first time a jumping spider? Write, at least, three questions.

- Find a picture of a jumping spider. What would you investigate about this spider? Ask a question yourself and write it down.