Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

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This clip shows the habits and dangerous nature of the Sydney funnel-web spider. It begins by showing extreme close-ups of the Sydney funnel-web as it kills and then digests its prey in bushland. The clip then depicts newspaper articles featuring stories of funnel-web bites, and a laboratory that produces antivenene for the Sydney funnel-web spider’s bite. This is followed by a scene of a Sydney funnel-web in a suburban garden, where a man who is gardening disturbs the spider and a domestic cat plays with it. Densey Clyne is the narrator and presenter, and music that suggests menace and danger accompanies the spiders’ movements.

Educational value points

• The clip shows examples of Atrax robustus, the Sydney funnel-web spider, frequently cited as the 'world’s deadliest spider’. The funnel-web spider has a fearsome reputation and consists of at least 40 species, all of which are found in eastern Australia. Not all species are known to be dangerous but several have a highly toxic and fast-acting venom. There have been 13 recorded deaths and many serious bites, probably all from the male Sydney funnel-web spider. An antivenene for the toxin of this spider was developed in 1981 and since then there have been no human deaths recorded from a funnel-web bite.

• The clip provides some indication of the moist, shady habitat around Sydney that the funnel-web spider prefers. The dryer, flatter western areas of Sydney and the Cumberland Plain have fewer funnel-webs. While they are not exclusively found in Sydney’s more expensive real estate on the leafy North Shore of Sydney Harbour, property values provide a rough guide to the size of the populations of funnel-webs.

• In the clip the narrator states that the venom of the male Sydney funnel-web is five times as toxic as the female’s. The male’s venom contains delta-atracotoxin-Ar1, a toxin that affects the nervous systems of monkeys and humans. Humans are more likely to be bitten by male rather than female Sydney funnel-webs, as during the warmer months of the year male funnel-webs travel at night in search of female spiders and may become trapped in houses and other buildings. The population density in a city such as Sydney makes it more likely that humans will encounter it.

• The bite of the northern Australian funnel-web spider is even more dangerous than that of the Sydney funnel-web, but the former lives far from urban centres. The bite administered by the Sydney funnel-web’s large fangs is usually immediately painful. The venom attacks the nervous system, producing symptoms that include muscle spasms and hypertension, and can lead to unconsciousness and ultimately death if not treated with the antivenene.

• The film from which this clip is taken, Webs of Intrigue, is an example of the work of Densey Clyne, naturalist, author and photographer, and Jim Frazier, cinematographer–director. Their successful collaboration began in 1972 when they formed Mantis Wildlife Films. Two 1975 documentaries, Garden Jungle and Aliens among Us, researched and written by Clyne (1926–) and filmed by Frazier, were shown on Australian television and subsequently sold to the BBC and networks in Germany, Japan, the USA and the Middle East. David Attenborough asked the pair to work on his series Life on Earth and The Living Planet. Clyne and Frazier’s work, including Webs of Intrigue, has won numerous international awards.

• Densey Clyne has a long career as a natural history filmmaker. Clyne’s professional life as a naturalist and filmmaker goes back to the meticulous observations she made of wildlife in her own suburban garden in Sydney. She taught herself macrophotography and in 1972 teamed up with cinematographer Jim Frazier, with whom she made award-winning documentaries about the insects and spiders in her garden. They went on to develop a highly successful style of natural-history documentary making that relied on Clyne’s research and writing skills. She has received many awards for her books, photographs and documentaries and has appeared on the television series Burke’s Backyard.

• The film shows the skill of macrocinematographer and technical innovator Jim Frazier. It was while working on wildlife films for David Attenborough in the 1980s that Frazier became frustrated with the limitations of the lenses then available to him. He determined to develop a lens that could keep very small objects such as spiders and insects in focus while also keeping their world, the background, in focus. The Frazier lens has been hailed as one of only two significant developments in lens technology since the invention of the camera, the other being the zoom lens. The Frazier lens has been used in notable Hollywood films such as Titanic and Jurassic Park.

• The music from Webs of Intrigue was produced by Supersonic, a music collective featuring the talents of composer–filmmakers Paul Healy, Antony Partos and Andrew Lancaster. This group produces music for commercials, theatre, dance and film. The soundtrack for Webs of Intrigue features sound interwoven with music and draws on the horror movie tradition to create a sense of menace to accompany the visuals of spiders. Antony Partos received the Australian Guild of Screen Composers Award for Best Music in a Documentary for Webs of Intrigue.

• Webs of Intrigue was directed by one of Australia’s most established wildlife and science filmmakers, Paul Scott. Scott achieved an honours degree in biology and several film qualifications from London University before moving to Australia in 1984 to work on wildlife documentaries. Some of Scott’s directorial credits include Australia’s Marine World, Devil Diary, Huon Pine – The Oldest Living Tasmanian, Koalas – The Bare Facts and Heaven’s Breath.

• The producer of Webs of Intrigue, Roger Whittaker, is a documentary producer–director. His company Roger Whittaker Media has produced some 30 television documentaries, some of which have screened worldwide and received numerous awards. Whittaker’s collaboration with Paul Scott began with the very successful 25-min A Bird’s Eye View – The Kookaburras, which was televised in many countries.

A close-up of a funnel-web spider.
Densey Clyne But is it the high toxicity of its venom that has made the Sydney funnel-web spider the deadliest the spider in the world. Funnel-webs live only in Australia, hidden in burrows under rocks and logs. The natural prey of these spiders are the ground dwelling insects that share their habitat.

A funnel-web catches prey.
Densey Clyne The venom of the male Sydney funnel-web is five times more toxic than the female’s. It is because of his wandering during the mating season that he often comes into contact with people and for some, the consequences can be deadly. Many people have died from the bite of this spider. It has taken decades of research to find an antivenom and reduce the number of fatalities. But this is still a lethal spider and the problem is that Sydney gardeners can accidentally dig them up and set them wandering.

A cat comes across a funnel-web.
Densey Clyne This may look like a dangerous game but the cat is not actually at risk – among back-boned animals, the funnel-web’s venom is only lethal to the primate group, which is bad luck for people.