A spider found at a British military base, which has long been considered extinct

 

The military infrastructure of Great Britain unexpectedly turned out to be a kind of reserve for many rare species of flora and fauna. This conclusion was formally made by the Defense Infrastructure Organization, which runs the army organization. And the reason for the revelations was the discovery at one of the secret military bases of the United Kingdom Alopecosa fabrilis - a large fox spider, which has been considered extinct since 1993.

 

For security reasons, the location of the spider was not disclosed, only the region is known - Surrey in the southeastern part of England. An amazing insect in many ways was found by Mike Waite, program manager for the Surrey Wildlife Trust. In agreement with the base management, he used aerial photographs to locate desert sandy areas in the area. And then he set up night patrols to track down the local inhabitants, as a result of which he found the fox spider, which was last seen 27 years ago.

Waite found both females and males, and a few very young individuals that are difficult to identify. This means that the spiders are not extinct at all, but actively live and probably even thrive. But why, then, did they disappear in other parts of the country and in mainland Europe, but take refuge in a military base? The answer is unexpected - spiders and their habitat unwittingly ended up under the protection of the military.

As the Defense Infrastructure Organization admits, they control vast territories that have been untouched by humans for decades. There are no hunting and agricultural activities, no tourists, and military exercises are held at most several times a year. Thanks to this, many species of birds, animals, reptiles and insects have a chance to survive here, although in the rest of the UK human activity has long led to their destruction.