Eight-legged bags of poison

Spiders, and other critters, carry mercury up the food chain

If you know an old lady who swallowed a spider, tell her to cough it up. Spiders and insects living near a mercury-contaminated river contain unusually high levels of the toxic metal, and it is turning up in area songbirds, a new study finds.

BIRD FOOD Researchers intercepted delivery of baby birds’ food, such as the spider and beetle grubs shown here, and found that some of these critters can carry mercury up the food chain.