🔬Meet a Scientist: Jillian Cowles🔬 (Patreon)

Hey Deep Peeps - As a part of celebrating “Women’s History Month” we thought you’d like to know more about Jillian Cowles, the scientist that helped us with our video, 🦂 The Vinegaroon Spray’s Acid to Foil Its Foes.🦂  

Jillian is a clinical microbiologist and naturalist who lives in Arizona. She is also an accomplished nature photographer who studies arachnids and has published a book called, 🕷️“Amazing Arachnids.” 🕷️ 

Jillian was instrumental in advising Mike Seely, our producer, on the best way to capture slow motion video of the vinegaroon’s spray behavior. How did she know how to do this?

Jillian explains, "The main idea was to backlight the spray so that you can actually catch the spray. Those liquid drops don't show up very well unless you get the spray backlit. I also knew what would elicit a spray from the vinegaroon. I had experimented with grasping the vinegaroon with forceps very gently and pulling on it slightly so that it would respond with a spray.” Mike used this same technique when he was filming. 

        Giant vinegaroon (Mastigoproctus spp.) displaying spray defense.  A vinegaroon’s signature defense is a blast of vinegar-smelling acid from the base of its tail.  The acid does not leave lasting damage, but does deter predators. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)

Is there anything that you really find fascinating about vinegaroons that Deep Look didn’t cover in our video?

“The thing that shocked me, actually, and I don't think it was really ever documented before I documented it, was that the mother vinegaroon demonstrates extended maternal care of her young, at least in captivity, for several months after the babies emerge from the maternal burrow. And, she continues to share food with them even after they emerge and set up their own little burrows. Once they're a year old, she doesn't share food with them anymore. It’s her way of not encouraging her babies to hang around.  It's kind of like parents who want their kids to leave when they're done with high school or college.”

A mother vinegaroon sharing food with her babies.  (Jillian Cowles/Amazing Arachnids)

"Most people probably think of arachnids as being the antithesis of social animals, but extended maternal care of young is actually something that humans and vinegaroons have in common. It really is not so surprising, because it confers a survival advantage to the babies, and those young then have a chance of passing on those “altruistic” genes to the next generation."

A juvenile giant vinegaroon. Vinegaroons molt five times before becoming an adult. (Josh Cassidy/KQED)

How did you become interested in arachnids?

You might be surprised to find out that Jillian used to be quite afraid of arachnids. But about 15 years ago, she started documenting every life form she could in her immediate area, including her yard. “I first started photographing wildflowers. Then I started photographing the arthropods that you see associated with wildflowers. And of course, there was the occasional crab spider or green lynx spider that was on the plants. And the more I actually watched these things, the more I liked them. The better you get to know these animals, the more you will respect them, if not outright like them. The lack of knowledge is, for the most part, what I think leads to fear."

A scorpion (Hoffmanius coahuilae) mother holding a newborn baby before it climbed onto her back to join its siblings. Scorpions give birth instead of laying eggs, and as the babies are born, the mother catches them in a “birth basket” formed by her front legs. She then assists them in climbing up to her back where they undergo further development before molting into free-living instars. (Jillian Cowles/Amazing Arachnids)

Were you always interested in biology and what advice would you give girls entering the field?

Jillian fell in love with reptiles and amphibians when she was five years old. She was even a member of the International Turtle and Tortoise Society in the second grade. Her advice for girls and young women interested in a science field is, “If you can get an education, do so. Go to college. I had to work my way through college and it was hard. But I got a degree and I worked as a clinical microbiologist. And then I worked on the study of arachnids on the side.”

"In some ways, I'm thankful that I didn't work as an arachnologist right away as the thing that paid the bills. It was purely for the joy of doing it. So, I would advise people that have an interest in biology not to give up. Keep doing it one way or another. Squeeze it into your life even if you have to work another job to pay the bills.”