{"id":1086,"date":"2016-02-04T09:13:18","date_gmt":"2016-02-04T17:13:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.unbc.ca\/huber\/?p=1086"},"modified":"2016-02-04T09:13:18","modified_gmt":"2016-02-04T17:13:18","slug":"a-tiger-in-your-back-yard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/huber.opened.ca\/?p=1086","title":{"rendered":"A tiger in your back yard?"},"content":{"rendered":"

When we think of endangered animals, among the first things to come to mind may be creatures like rhinoceroses, tigers, or condors. Large animals, lots of press, and pressing concerns. There are an estimated\u00a0799 eastern black rhinos<\/a>,\u00a0~400 Siberian tigers<\/a>, and\u00a0237 California condors<\/a>\u00a0left in the wild. In some cases, as with these animals, their numbers have been reduced by human assaults of various sorts. In most cases there are plenty of ongoing issues, often related to habitat loss, that either keep populations in decline or which make recovery difficult.<\/p>\n

But these animals and their attendant situations all seem pretty far away. Their distant geography lends itself to experiential distance as well. We hear about them, we see photographs and documentaries about them, but we will likely never have a chance to encounter them in the wild. Of course, even with geographical and experiential distance, concern is still warranted, and we might donate some money to one or another of these causes, or at least keep up with the issues via the news media. But beyond that, what can we do? The situations for these animals, and many others like them, may be dire, but we realistically can\u2019t be present with them.<\/p>\n

What if I told you that there is an animal in our own back yard (if you live in the Vancouver area) with population numbers and threats akin to \u2013 or perhaps worse than \u2013 those facing a Siberian tiger? What if I told you that, like a tiger, it is a ferocious predator?<\/p>\n

What if I told you that it’s a spider?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Gnaphosa snohomish<\/em>. Drawing by Robb Bennett, used with permission.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The animal that I\u2019m talking about is the\u00a0Georgia Basin bog spider<\/a>\u00a0(Gnaphosa snohomish<\/em>). It is quite likely that you\u2019ve never heard of it until now, and very likely that you have never seen it, even unintentionally. That is because although it lives in heavily populated southwestern British Columbia and the surrounding area, it is restricted to a few small patches of habitat where, even in such a major population centre, few people ever go. And because few people ever go to where it lives, those spots are often under pressure for development \u2013 \u201cif no one uses that area presently, why shouldn\u2019t we turn it into something ‘useful’?\u201d goes the thinking.<\/p>\n

Because of where it lives \u2013 as the name implies, in boggy wetlands \u2013 the Georgia Basin bog spider\u2019s population numbers are not fully known. Thankfully, though, some people do go and look for this creature, and what we do know is that, indeed, the population levels and threats are likely similar to some of the bigger animals mentioned in the preamble. This is not a situation that many often consider to be a problem for spiders and insects, and perhaps that is because we know so little about so many of them.<\/p>\n

One of the main problems for this spider is that humans don\u2019t live in bogs, at least not while they remain in their boggy condition. We tend to either drain bogs for development, harvest their moss for other uses, or use their natural conditions to grow crops like cranberries. In some cases other development,\u00a0such as roadways<\/a>, can have draining and polluting impacts on nearby bogs. All of these factors, and others, mean that when humans and bogs meet, the bog loses, as do many of its denizens. The Georgia Basin bog spider in British Columbia\u2019s Lower Mainland is one of those creatures currently on the losing side of that ledger.<\/p>\n

In recent years some detailed work has been done on the Georgia Basin bog spider. You can find some of the most recent assessments of its status and coverage of its known natural history\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0here<\/a>. Both of those links are PDFs.<\/p>\n

In a nutshell (you can find all of this information, and more, in those two PDFs):<\/p>\n