Redbacks in Nippon !!

[boxy]

Scientists are amazed that the Redback, a sub-tropical insect, can survive the harsh winters of Nippon.

What scientists would they be? Red back spiders seem to survive Canberra winters just fine, and it's almost exactly as far south, as Japan is north of the equator.

You're right Boxy. The word 'Scientist' no longer holds any 'accurate certainty' these days, when a lot lack common sense and are on the take to state whatever their payer wants.

I ask again... what scientists? Sounds like you just plucked the claim that "scientists are amazed" out of your arse, to me.

[Jasonofabitch]

Ahh I see what you mean.
Hell, I hope I never have to pluck my duct.

The report I relayed upon this Topic was straight from SBS on my TV. It was 'they' who mentioned the 'scientists'.
Sorry.

[The Uncanny Hengeman]

There was an article I read yonks ago that the FAMOUS Aussie redback spider was, strangely, never mentioned in dispatches in the first ~100 years of white settlement.

The theory was posited that it might not have been an Aussie native, but it was ALSO introduced via shipping. Random horror story:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... sacpe.html

[Neferti]

There was an article I read yonks ago that the FAMOUS Aussie redback spider was, strangely, never mentioned in dispatches in the first ~100 years of white settlement.

The theory was posited that it might not have been an Aussie native, but it was ALSO introduced via shipping. Random horror story:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... sacpe.html

Who knows whether it is indigenous or not? Wiki has some theories ..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redback_spider

[boxy]

Yeah, I've read those theories too, but I think it more likely that they just weren't noticed early on. They seem to thrive around our permanent dwellings, and needed a while to increase once we started building them. Go out in the bush some time, and try to find a red-back under a rock or a log, it can take quite a while. But turn over the first piece of corrugated iron, or water trough lid, and you are pretty much guaranteed to find at least one.