Sometimes I am completely amazed that this planet still holds surprises for us. You would think that after inhabiting the planet for several hundred millennia we would have seen it all. We have spread out to cover the planet with cities, explored the dark jungles and highest mountains and still the planet is just now revealing some of its secrets.
Just last week a scientist in working in Papua New Guinea, announced that he had found a previously unrecorded and unknown species of jumping spider. Think about that for a minute. With all of the combined knowledge we have accumulated over the last few thousand years, we still have things to discover! Pretty amazing eh?
My only concern comes when I think about what we have done with some of the other 'previously unknown' species we have found. All kinds of animals on this planet have survived perfectly well until humans got their fingers into the mix. We have fished cod until the fishery collapsed. Hunted whales for their oil until a couple of species have only a few hundred members left. Look at the poor Dodo bird. When we found it there were thousands of them. Then sailors looking for an easy meal hunted the trusting birds (which were too stupid to run away but had survived perfectly well) into oblivion. So with this track record you can see my concern for this new spider.
I know, I know. We are getting better at taking care of the planet. Slowly we are learning that if we as a species want to survive we have to take better care of our home. But when humans want something, there is little that will dissuade them from taking what they want. God forbid that this new spider turns out to be good for something we need. What happens when scientists figure out that its squished remains are the cure for that global scourge of hangnails? Or the terrible, debilitating ailment of receding eyebrow lines? If it turns out that this spider is good for something that we think we need… Let the extinction begin.
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