This athletic arachnid moves like no other. Two other spider species are known to roll down slopes with the help of gravity. But this one uses handsprings to propel itself along even ground.
Foto: TU Berlin
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Bionics researcher Ingo Rechenberg with his desert discovery. If the spider is found to be a new species, it will likely be dubbed Cebrennus rechenbergi.
Foto: TU Berlin
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The spider seems to like humans. Instead of rolling away, it tends to approach when offered a hand.
Foto: TU Berlin
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Flipping as fast as two meters per second, the spider looks like a small, unusually fast tumbleweed.
Foto: TU Berlin
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The spider lives in southern Morocco and travels at night to avoid the hot desert sun. Here Rechenberg managed to photograph it as the sun rose above the Sahara.
Foto: TU Berlin
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A spider expert from the Frankfurt Senckenberg Institut has identified a male "rolling spider" as belonging to the Cebrennus genus. He needs a female to find out if Rechenberg's spider is in fact a new species.
Foto: TU Berlin
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Rechenberg camped in this bus amid the dunes for six weeks during his summer stay in the Sahara. He has been traveling to the Sahara for 25 years in order to study desert species.
Foto: TU Berlin
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