Newcastle funnel-web spider’s last shared common ancestor with the Sydney funnel-web was 17 million years ago, experts say
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Kane Christensen’s passion is an arachnophobe’s nightmare. For two decades, he worked with deadly spiders at the Australian Reptile Park, a zoo located 80km north of Sydney – paying such close attention to the eight-legged predators that he helped scientists discover two new species.
He began there as a volunteer in 2003, milking venom from the fangs of Sydney funnel-web spiders. The park takes donations of captured male spiders from the public, using their venom to create life-saving antivenom. “Funnel-webs for me are just the pinnacle,” Christensen says.
