Twerking spiders? Really, evolution?

One of my favorite things about evolution is how over time the same solutions to various problems have been worked out by very disparate species over the vastness of time. For example, both mammals and fish have worked out the whole living-in-water thing. Marsupials like kangaroos and rats have both worked out hopping as a means of propulsion, with giant, energy-storing leg tendons. Succulent planets evolved separately in the Americas and Africa, with thick, non-porous exteriors that help store water in dry environments. If animals need to do it to survive more effectively, time and natural selection have worked out how to do it. It's known as convergent evolution.

But a link between the mating behavior of peacocks and...spiders? Really, evolution? It turns out, yeah, really. There's a tiny little jumping spider in Aussie that has evolved a beautiful booty-shaking mating dance that is reminiscent of peacocks and birds of paradise. Check out the video below. Sorry about the commercial at the beginning, but you can skip it after 5 seconds. The spider-twerking starts at the 3:00 mark.

(Credit: Discover Magazine online. Also, I originally wrote this post with a title inspired by one of my favorite Tumblr feeds, called WTF Evolution? I went over to the site to grab the URL for the citation, and what were they featuring? Peakcock spiders! That's what I call convergent blogging!)

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