Photo: Fiona Cross / University of Canterbury
This is a jumping spider called Portia, and she can count.
Portia africana, the salticid (jumping) spider has a brain that could fit on a pinhead, and apparently counts its prey.
Dr Fiona Cross and Emeritus Professor Robert Jackson, are both from the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Canterbury and conducted a series of experiments with the jumping spiders.
And they've published a paper on the critter that was the cover for a new Royal Society special issue of Interface Focus. Fiona spends six months a year in Kenya but she's back at home in New Zealand.
