Fact 1: A myth exposed

You've probably heard it said that on average, humans swallow around 8 spiders per year while we sleep. What a scary thought, especially for vegetarians like myself. Thankfully, we can rest easy tonight, for it is very unlikely to swallow a spider while we sleep. This is because a spider is unlikely to come near us of its own free will.

 

Because of our comparatively large size, spiders see us as like large rocks. But if that's the case, why don't they crawl all over us like any other part of their landscape? This is all due to the fact most of them don't see very well. Instead, spiders rely on vibrations from their environment to tell them what's going on. That includes the vibrations we make when we move, speak or even breath. So, while a spider sees you as a giant rock, it sees you as a giant moving rock. I don't think even the most experienced rock climber would attempt to climb a steep cliff during an earthquake.

Now, that's not to say you will absolutely never swallow a spider in your life. However, it is extremely unlikely a spider will attempt to crawl over you while you sleep only to climb into your mouth and not immediately recognise the danger it is in. The claim that you swallow 8 spiders per year has been overexaggerated by the internet. Have a nice lunch people.

Fact 2: They have their eyes on you!
Spiders not only have 8 legs, but 8 eyes aswell! Ok, so not all spiders have 8 eyes, but most of them do. Despite this, most of them are almost completely blind, only being able to see the difference between light and dark. Instead, these spiders navigate their environment by means of touch and smell.

By contrast, some spiders, such as jumping spiders, have a very good eyesight. Some of these spiders are able to judge the distance between them and their target by comparing a blurry image to a clear one. This is called image defocus. This works best under green light, as discovered by researchers in japan. The researchers tested the spiders under red and green light, giving them several fruit flies to test the hypothesis. The spiders significantly struggled under green light.

Fact 3: They're excellent hunters
You're probably familiar with the preferred hunting technique of some spiders. You may be surprised to know, however, that not all spiders make webs to catch their food. For example, one group of tarantulas, appropriately called trapdoors spiders, make a burrow in the ground, which they top with a well camoflaged lid lined with silk. When a potential prey item is sensed nearby, the tarantula launches itself from its burrow and drags its prey down to be devoured.

Another interesting hunter is the ogre faced spider. If you thought humans were the first to hunt with nets, you were wrong. The ogre faced spider doesn't make a web for its prey to fly into, but rather swings its web at its prey to catch it.

Similarly, the fishing spider uses its web to dangle a lure from leaves. This lure immitates the pheremones of female moths, attracting males to it. When the prey is nearby, the spider throws the web with astonishing accuracy, catching the moth.

While most spiders are quite anti-social and even cannibalistic, some species are quite sociable. Theridion nigroannulatum, for example, live in groups of maybe thousands of individuals. They hide under plants and lower strands of silk to the ground. When an unsuspecting victim hits these strands, several spiders will descend like a SWAT team, bind the prey in silk, paralyse it with venom and bring it up to the group to meet its grizzly end.

A particularly interesting spider, known as the ant mimic spider, looks a lot like an ant. It even uses two of its legs like antenae. This fools the ants, along with would-be predators, enabling the spider to sneak into ant colonies and pick a few of them off. Despite this, not all ant mimic spiders prefer to eat ants.

But the most amazing of all spider hunters is the portia, which is a type of jumping spider. Portias are the real assassins of the spider world, preying almost exclusively on other spiders. In order to do this, portias have a vast array of hunting techniques. They are incredibly intelligent, enabling them to decide which techniques to use, whether it be from experience or by trial and error. They are even able to come up with completely new hunting techniques which are unique to them, and may never be replicated by another portia.

Fact 4: There's literally millions of them!
In 2014, the total number of known spider species was over 45,000! Spiders are so well designed, they can be found in almost every corner of the earth, with the exception of the ice caps.

 

Fact 5: If they don't eat, we don't eat
Despite the large amount of fear surrounding spiders, they are actually quite important for our eco-system. Spiders, of course, eat mostly insects. This is important for us, because some insects eat our crops. In keeping the insect population under control, spiders make sure there are enough crops ready for us to harvest, which means we still get food. If you've had some food today, thank a spider.

Fact 6: They're everywhere!
Spiders are so well designed, they can adapt to a whole range of habitats. Some spiders, like the diving bell spider, are even capable of living most of their lives under water by collecting oxygen in their webs. They will live their entire lives under water, coming up only to replenish their oxygen supply. It has been said that wherever you are on earth, you're never more than a few meters from a spider.

Fact 7: They eat their own house!
In slow hunting times, a spider will make a nutritious meal out of its own web. Imagine if you were capable of not only producing the materials for your own house, but were capable of eating it when you didn't have enough money to go to the shops! That is how a spider do.

Fact 8: Their web is bullet proof!
Pound for pound, a spider's web is more powerful than a piece of steel of the same thickness. A spider's web is so strong, you can actually create a makeshift tennis rackets by collecting spider webs with sticks. Scientists are studying the silk from orb weavers in an attempt to create better body armour for police and military use.

Fact 9: They're waterproof
Spiders have water-repellent hair that keeps them dry. This hair even stops them from drowning by catching air bubbles that they can take with them below the surface. These same hairs enable spiders to float.

 

Fact 10: They can't kill you
Although you could literally find a long list of spiders with venom strong enough to kill humans, the vast majority of spiders are incapable of killing a healthy human being. In fact, of the over 45,000 species that are deadly to humans, only one tenth of one percent are actually capable of killing you. Ironically, the bigger the spider, the scarier an arachnophobe will usually find it, however there are no known species of tarantula that are deadly. The only way a tarantula bite can kill someone is if they are allergic to bee stings.

Fact 11: There's an almost vegan spider!
Named in honor of the panther from The Jungle Book, Bagheera Kiplingi is a species of jumping spider that lives a mostly herbivorous life. The spider lives alongside acacia ants, and feeds on the food the plant produces for the ants. Despite its largely herbivorous diet, the spider will still occasionally pick off some ant larvae or other unfortunate prey items during drier times.

Fact 12: Some of them are huge!
The appropriately named Goliath birdeater tarantula can grow as large as a puppy. Although it is named the bird eater, it only occasionally feeds on birds, living mostly on a diet of arthropods. Despite being so huge, its bites almost never require medical attention.

Fact 13: Even Christians have legends about spiders.
Extra-Biblical stories about Biblical characters are almost never true, but they're still fun to look at. While fleeing Herod's men, it is said that Mary and Joseph hid in a cave with Jesus. A spider, who lived on the edge of the cave, took pity on them, and wanted to protect the Lord. It decided to make a web over the cave entrance. The soldiers passed the cave by, thinking that if a spider had made its web over the entrance, the cave mustn't have been entered by anything for a very long time. They left the cave and continued to search for Jesus elsewhere.

Fact 14: They eat each other!
Cannibalism exists in some vertebrate animals aswell, but with invertebrates, it's common place. The same is true with spiders. Most spiders are anti-social, and will spend most of their lives on their own, coming together only to mate. If another spider comes near them at the wrong time, they'll likely fight to the death, and the winner will eat the loser. Even during mating times, a male who oversteps the line, or doesn't leave fast enough, will likely find himself on the sharp ends of his lover's fangs. In other words, male spiders who fail to pay for dinner will likely be the dinner.

Spiders: A wonderful creation
Spiders are truly amazing creatures, and these 14 facts are far from all they have to offer. Studying spiders will not fail to amaze you. Truly they are an amazing creation. But they are just one small fraction of a huge collection of creations, too numerous to count or study within a human lifetime. These wonderful creations have a wonderful creator. The creator of spiders is also the one who created us. But we are worth more to him than spiders. Our wonderful creator was gracious enough to not only create us, but also to become one of us. To find out how this affects you, click here.