The “House of Knowledge” is like a collection of stories. Beautiful stories that tell the living in all its freshness. But also, in all its complexities. Arch to marvel at the world’s treasures. In this new episode, we are not going to the other side of the world. We will focus on a small animal that lives near us. Sometimes even in our homes: the spider.
Eight legs, several eyesHairy body. Honestly, spiders don’t really have a lot of things. At least that is what many of us think. Aversion can amount to fear. Even even phobia. Because spiders are dangerous. Since then, the idea of being bitten by these little monsters has worried people Night time.
However, few spiders bite humans. Their hooks are usually unable to penetrate our skin. Eight-legged monsters tend to avoid us. And to them Poison It turns out to be rarely dangerous. Among the nearly 50,000 Spider species Known in the world, only about a hundred would likely cause a reaction in humans. Among them, fifteen will be really dangerous.
However, arachnids are considered to be major predators. To trap their prey, they design very effective hunting tools. The famous Spider webs. And to give themselves the means to fulfill their ambitions, some even use these panels as reels to raise their future meal safe above the ground.
Strands stretch to lift their prey
to Researchers from the University of Trento (Italy) was able to observe some samples in action. to Theridiidae. They are extremely common spiders. They are found all over the world. And with their camera on top SpeedScientists noticed how they could catch cockroaches. The weight of prey reaches 50 times that of them. Excuse me a little …
Their strategy? Use their body weight to place the silk strings that make up their fabric under tension. Then attach more and more of those strings to the cockroach trapped in the web. To finally succeed in raising the unfortunate an insect From EarthUsing a reel. Thus preventing any attempt to escape. Sign, in fact, definitively on his death warrant.
The real ingenuity of this Theridiidae It hides in the fact that they are stretching Silk threads Before attaching them to their prey. This is how they bare flexibility. Because if it was silkSpider Famous for it resistance, Similar toSolidIt is also for its flexibility. Without this little trick, the cockroach, which is struggling, is able to hop on the ground. But he is ultimately the smartest spider. Thanks to this advanced technology, it can target all kinds of small animals – lizards, for example – and they no longer need to be restricted to insects. Finally … not that stupid, the spider!
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