Shake Your Silk-Maker: The Dance of the Peacock Spider

With their ornately colored bodies, rhythmic pulsations, and booty-shaking dance moves, male peacock spiders attract the attention of spectating females as well as researchers. One such behavior specialist, Madeline Girard, collected more than 30 different peacock spider species from Australia and brought them back to her lab at UC Berkeley. Under controlled conditions, she recorded their unique dances in the hopes of deciphering what these displays actually say to female spiders and how standards differ between species. (Plus, try the dancing spider matching game.)