Spider Abilities

[flano]

What weird and wonderful abilities do some spiders have? Can some spiders jump long distances for example? Cheers

[Peri]

There is nothing weird and wonderful about spiders. And the thought that they could jump long distances.  Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[smudge]

Ditto Peri.

The thought of spiders being able to jump - especially in the bedroom, fills me with fear! :o[

[Artful]

At least one wonderful ability is the producing of silk, and very strong silk at that (compares to steel).

[Peri]

Give me good old cotton and no spiders any day.

[Gooner_Badge]

There are many varieties of "leaping spiders" .. can't be too specific with names, but was watching a documentary a while back on National Geographic about them.

[delboy3]

there's at least one that spins a little net and holds it between the front pair of legs, lying in wait for poor little insects, then POUNCE! Gotcha! Also ones in the Sahara which build sneaky trap doors and lie in wait below. Yeeurgh...

[PurplePixie]

Tell me they DON'T jump...pleeeease.

I've heard of a spider in the desert that numbs your face with anaesthetic & then can eat half your face off....the first you know about it is that you wake up in the morning, go to scratch your nose & it ain't there anymore!

[Fern57]

I personally find spiders fascinating. Although most jumping spiders live in the tropics, there is a species known as the zebra spider (Salticus scenicus) which lives in Europe. They are very small but have quite large eyes. Their eyesight is very good. Quite harmless creatures. They jump to catch their prey. Good news is, they don't see people as prey, so don't worry.
There are also spiders (Scytodes thoricica) that spit a poisonous sticky silk like substance over their prey. Again, harmless to humans.
Money spiders, when they are tiny, go 'ballooning'. They let out a strand of silk into the air and the breeze lifts the spider into the air and it "flies". This is how these tiny spiders get caught in your hair, on your clothes etc. (not because they think you would make a tasty meal).

[doxy0486]

how is it that spiders can eat your face off and be able to live with no face? if its true it must be one heck of a spider. and I thought snakes were bad.

[flano]

Thank you to all those who submitted interesting material. To all those arachnaphobes who just said ahhhh, yeeurgh etc...  stop winging to me about ur problems.

[judypark]

Fern 57, I found your contribution fascinating, I too love spiders, in the UK we have no need to fear these endearing creatures, maybe if I lived in the Antipodes, I would be a little more cautious, personally I would rather have a spider and web in my house than a bluebottle or wasp. Fear of these creatures is generally learned from parents, thankfully my kids have grown up with a healthy respect and appreciation, and I took great delight in finding some lovely specimens to show my 18 month old grandson last week. Hopefully he too will delight in these little gems of nature.  Judy

[flano]

Judy you must not have heard the recent story of the brazilian wandering spider that came to UK on a crate of bananas. Its the most dangerous in the world by the criteria of poison,aggression and speed. The spider was released before they identified it(woops).So who knows maybe your not safe wherever you are in the UK. Glad i live in dublin 

[judypark]

Hi flano, my other half works in ASDA, in the fruit and veg dept, and it is a regular occurrance, when unpacking the goods, especially bananas and exotic fruits,  to encounter the odd arachnid, these are caught, put in a jar and a call is put through to the Leicester museum, who duly collect them. When "the little fella' " has been identified, the store is notified out of courtesy, and our eight legged friend is either released or rehomed according to it's lethal potential. The majority of these tropical spiders would not survive more than a fews days in our climate anyway. Long live the spider!   Judy