3 May 2018

Studying the world's oldest spider

From Afternoons, 1:40 pm on 3 May 2018

The story of the world's oldest spider has captured hearts around the world.

A zoologist, Dr Barbara Main, started studying a trapdoor spider 40 years ago once she crawled out of her mother's nest and made a burrow of her own.

Barbara Main dedicated her career to following the spider she called number 16 who lived under an acacia tree in southwest Australia.

An ecologist, Leanda Mason took over Barbara's work and tells Jesse Mulligan how number 16 eventually died.