STRONG AS SILK Into the jungles of Madagascar in search of the toughest material on Earth
Photography & story by Joshua Brown
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V E R M O N T Q U A R T E R LY
DECEMBER 3, 2017 Southwestern border of the Analamazaotra Special Reserve, Andasibe-Mantadia National Park Ingi Agnarsson’s close-shaved head glints in the midafternoon sunshine as he scans along a stream where it flows out to a grassy river. From high in the trees on the other side of the water, the howls of indri, the largest lemurs in Madagascar, float down like arboreal whale song. But Agnarsson and four other scientists stand on the streambank in silence. They slowly look up and down the waterway for five, ten, fifteen seconds. “I must say I’m a little worried,” Agnarsson finally says, raising his eyebrows, his blue eyes growing wide behind his glasses. “Usually, we would see twenty of them already.” But the spiders are not here. “There aren’t any,” says Matjaž Kuntner, his mouth opening to say something salty, until he notices my voice recorder and catches himself. “Golly,” he says. “Bleep.”