If you’re afraid of spiders you should turn away. No not really, these ones are mostly behind glass in a new exhibition at the Queensland Museum.

Elizabeth Neil reports.

TRANSCRIPT

Spiders might be scary to some.

But the Museum is inspiring a new generation of arachnologists.

“Spiders – The Exhibition” will give visitors a chance to get up close and personal with all sorts of creep-crawlies.

It explores different parts of spider ecology, as well as presenting live-feeding demonstrations.

Dr Jim Thompson, Queensland Museum: “We just want people to have a better understanding of their role in the eco system. What they do, how they live, their amazing life cycles.”

The expo has virtual reality activities.

You can dance with a spider, hold a spider, even examine the insides of a spider, using 3D scanning technology.

The Museum already has described more than 1,000 spiders, which is close to one third of all Australia’s spiders.

The exhibition will feature more than 200 specimens, including this, the Golden Orb spider.

It will also feature 12 other live species.

And some budding arachnologists even dressed up for today’s sneak peak.

Vox 1: “I like the redback spider.”

Vox 2: “They’re really fascinating actually.”

The exhibition officially opens on December 6th.

Elizabeth Neil, QUT News.