they probably are imagine bees building hives in all sorts of geometrical shapes. but the colonies tht preferred hexagons had a higher chance of survival. well you know evolution humans either run or fight when we're startled, as opposed to lie down. tht's part of our programming
here's a fossilised spider believed to be about 100 million yrs old. it's attacking what looks to be a wasp-like insect
I hate spiders. But I understand they're beneficial. If I'm outside and they aren't on me or don't come creeping up into my personal space, we're cool. We can coexist. If they're inside and they aren't the big nasty hairy beasts (I kill those fuckers on sight), I'll take them outside. Unless they're too evasive. Had one of the big jumping spiders in my house the other day, kept trying to take him outside but he kept jumping off and disappearing. I killed him the third time because you know what fuck you I'm done playing nice now. Had a garden spider make a web in the corner of my wall. I'm like "ok, you're just a garden spider and I can't reach you anyway so you're fine, we can be chill for now". But then he died because there weren't any flies to eat in my house and I felt kinda bad. Sorry Bob.
How to build a spider web isn't knowledge being passed along genetically.. at the very least, the spider's silk and web are an extension of it's subconscious much like how our spit and piss are or look at it like a spider being as aware of it's web as we are of our hair. At a young age, they learn that they can shoot silk.. and when they do they are typically lifted by the wind and they now learn that they can be lifted by the wind and aren't restricted to running on the ground. When a spider goes to build it's web.. it first shoots out a silk line and can feel when it hits. It then makes a couple passes back and forth the main line to strengthen it. It then uses it's own body to make measurements as to where to place all the other threads.. it's not that it already knows how to use it's body, it's just that it has to use it's own body because it's own body will be using the web. It's why we build steps in similar sizes, we know that's the limit of comfortability of stepping up with our bodies. If spiders didn't make mistakes in building, then I'd say they might have some sort of genetic blueprint.. but they can make errors. They typically try to fix them right away if noticed, but if they were operating on a genetic blueprint.. they'd almost never make an error aside from things effecting it environmentally. Like if the wind picks up when they're trying to shoot a thread. Also.. spiders are typically born in or near the parent's web, so they're seeing what it should look like when they are born. Just like how a wolf spider learns about hunting while on it's mother's back. Might be an interesting experiment though.. stealing some spider eggs and then nabbing a few individual baby spiders before they see any sort of webbing and isolating them and see how similar their webs turn out. They'll still use their body for measurements.. but I bet there would be variation.
http://www.livescience.com/34775-spiders-learn-sna... \tTraining spiders \tTo find out if that was the case, Nakata captured wild spiders and allowed them to build webs in a laboratory setting. Each spider was given one live fly a day for a meal. About half of the 27 spiders in the study got flies delivered to the vertical components of their webs - either above or below the web's center. The rest got flies on the right or left of the web. \tBy measuring the difference in the web's strands in these two photographs, Nakata could determine the intensity with which the spider was pulling on each strand. He repeated the process five times per spider, each time with a new web. \tLearning and waiting \tThe photographs revealed the spiders were learning. Those spiders that got their meals in the vertical segments of their web pulled harder on vertical strands. Those that were used to flies landing to their right or left put more tension on the horizontal strands. Nakata reported the results today (May 28) in the journal Biology Letters.
Thank you for making this thread. They have protected my plants from pests and helped with my gardening for many years. I have grown not to fear them as much anymore
Yeah it is. here's another one. it's a bee and the only one of its kind tht has been found Don't remember how many millions of years old it is http://cdn4.sci-news.com/images/enlarge/image_1383e-Trigonisca-bee.jpg
Spiders bite me all the time, just walking in my backyard and one bit me and its finally getting better. Wasps, and bees sting me too for that matter. Mosquitos eat me up like I was made of candy and Flies always try to fly into my ear. I hate it.
May be a body chemistry thing. They may sense something in/around you tht they translate as a threat. I've read something about mosquitos being more attracted to certain blood types (and sweat). Insects never touch me, especially mosquitos. I let them fly in my room and even sleep with the window open they never bite me. my blood type is AB+, anyone got more info on this?
Mosquitoes usually leave me alone too, I don't remember the last time I had a visible mosquito bite. I get the occasional one landing on me but I swat them away pretty fast.
Spiders all over here in the lake Huron area. This kind, but all sorts of colors and patterns. No clue what species lol
I fucking hate spiders but I understand their place on this planet. Spider silk is wild. Just think, when humans learn to create spider silk like spiders do, spiders will change the world
idk man if you can provide some proof they wont just randomly bite while crawling then surely ju im good. like i'll catch a spider in my peripherals walking then the moment i acknowledge the spider is there it just stops moving till i forget about it. it will literally just SIT there lol. anyway if it crawls onto me and does not bite me then yea we can be friends man.