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Daddy Longlegs: Two Eyes, Eight Legs, And No Webs

Mattknight

"Daddy Longlegs," written by Melissa Zapisocky, read by Caroline Kurtz

"Recently, my roommates and I made a bet recently concerning whether "daddy longlegs" weave webs to catch prey, or if they stalk, hunt and kill, web-less. You know the creature I mean, with those thin, fragile-looking, ridiculously long legs extending at right angles from a small, water drop-sized body. Several minutes of Googling showed that the root of our confusion appears to be that hardly any of us really know what we mean when we're talking about daddy longlegs. Up to three different species share the common "daddy longlegs" name: the crane fly of the U.K.; cellar spiders; and the Harvestman, which isn't a spider at all."

(Broadcast: "Fieldnotes," 10/12/14 & 10/13/14. Listen Sunday afternoons at 12:25 and Monday afternoons at 3:00, or via podcast.)

Beth Anne Austein has been spinning tunes on the air (The Folk Show, Dancing With Tradition, Freeforms), as well as recording, editing and mixing audio for Montana Public Radio and Montana PBS, since the Clinton Administration. She’s jockeyed faders or "fixed it in post” for The Plant Detective; Listeners Bookstall; Fieldnotes; Musicians Spotlight; The Write Question; Storycorps; Selected Shorts; Bill Raoul’s music series; orchestral and chamber concerts; lecture series; news interviews; and outside producers’ programs about topics ranging from philosophy to ticks.
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