DailyDirt: Interesting Spider Behavior
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
People tend to have an irrational fear of spiders, which are more often than not completely harmless and also beneficial because they help control the insect pest population around homes and gardens. Perhaps, instead of focusing on their “creepiness,” people should learn about how cool these little creatures really are. Here are a few examples of some interesting behavior in spiders.
- Yes, spiders eat bats too. Apparently, bat-eating spiders live on every continent (except Antarctica). Most of them catch bats in their webs, but huntsman spiders and tarantulas have been observed eating bats on forest floors. [url]
- Spiders can adapt to zero-gravity. A “Johnson Jumper” spider named Nefertiti survived 100 days on the International Space Station, during which it demonstrated a new technique for catching fruit flies in zero-gravity. Instead of jumping on its prey, it would sidle up to it. [url]
- Contrary to popular belief, spiders can be sociable. Of the more than 43,678 species of spiders out there, about 24 social spider species have been identified. In a most recent discovery, researchers found that females from a social species of spider called Chikunia nigra were surprisingly tolerant of other spiders from the same colony and were willing to look after another’s eggs/hatchlings as if they were her own. [url]
If you’d like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.
Filed Under: bats, behavior, biology, nefertiti, species, spiders
Comments on “DailyDirt: Interesting Spider Behavior”
spiders in space?!?!
can we *not* bring spiders on spacecraft? just the idea that radiation-resistant super-spiders taking over a mars colony and escape pods gives me the heebie jeebies.
Canadian study of drugs on spiders…. awesome minute and half video…. You will laugh…and yes that’s a promise.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dg-r-S0fIkA
vegetarian spider
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/10/091012-vegetarian-spider.html
Re: vegetarian spider
That is awesome! Thanks for sharing.
Perhaps, instead of focusing on their “creepiness,” people should learn about how cool these little creatures really are.
, he says, with a story about SPIDERS EATING BATS.