No other animal in the world can weave as complex and exquisite webs as spiders. Even humans who have mastered modern textile technology are amazed at the creativity and superb skills of spider web weaving.
There is an ancient Greek legend about spiders: a young girl named Amne challenged the goddess of wisdom to compete in weaving, but unfortunately she lost, so she used her body to spin and weave. The spider's Latin scientific name, Araneiida, was named after the maiden.
Spiders belong to arthropods, with more than 40,000 species,
Its population is second only to insects. The biggest feature of spiders is that they can spit silk. Although some other insects, such as silkworms, can spit silk, no other animal can weave a complex and exquisite web like a spider. Most spider species have the ability to spit out silk knotted webs.
Scientists don't know how spider silk is formed.
But there is already a general understanding of the spider's silk spitting process. Spiders are born with silk glands that secrete spider silk. When the spider sprays silk, it pushes the secreted silk protein liquid through the conveyor pipe to a small spout on the spray head. Spiders generally have two to three pairs of spinish heads, all located behind their abdomen. Each nozzle has a "regulating valve" that controls the speed and concentration of the ejection. The filament protein liquid ejects from the spout, solidifies into silk in the air and is constantly elongated, forming a long line with a certain strength and toughness. The spinette will constantly pull these long lines tightly, making them stronger and stronger.
Most spiders have multiple silk glands that produce a variety of filaments with different effects. By tangling various silks together, spiders can create a variety of silk threads. Spiders can also change the concentration of the fibrous protein liquid by adjusting the spout to form thinner or thicker silk threads. Some silk threads have a multi-layer structure, most of which are an inner tube with an outer tube. Spiders can also coat the silk thread with various substances to suit a variety of different needs, such as a layer of sticky or impermeable substances on the bread outside the silk thread.
Spider silk is exceptionally strong and extremely flexible. Some spiders produce silk that can withstand 5 times the tensile force of the same diameter steel wire, which is 2 times stronger than Kefner, an artificial, high-strength bulletproof fiber. These physical properties of spider silk have aroused great interest among scientists, but so far, scientists have not yet developed a fiber material comparable to spider silk.
Let's take a look at the various cobwebs.
Hole net
The mantis is a spider that lives in the rainforest of Malaysia and lives underground. When building a nest, the cockroach usually chooses a drier place and burrows in the soil. After the cave is built, the mantis weaves a coil at the mouth of the cave, and then walks out of the cave and pulls out multiple silk threads radially from the outside, all of which are connected to the coils set at the mouth of the cave. Finally, the mantis recreates an earthen cover to cover the opening of the cave.
The mantis is lying under the lid, ready to attack. Its eight legs were attached to eight threads connecting the hole, and it could feel even the slightest vibration. The mantis has good judgment and can distinguish which are vibrations from prey and which are caused by other objects. If it is a continuous vibration, the mantis will be highly alert, because it is most likely the prey stuck to the silk thread. At this time, the mantis opens the lid and pounces on the prey with lightning speed. Once the prey is caught by it, it is rarely able to escape.
Known as the living fossil of spiders, viper wax is a very old spider, and it can be seen from its back that it is closely related to scorpions. Like scorpions, the venom of the cockroach is so toxic that as long as the prey is bitten by it, there is almost no chance of survival.
"Skynet"
Most spiders are "loners", like to be alone, and rarely cooperate, but a red spider that lives in the rainforest with a body the size of an ant is an exception, and many red spiders weave webs together, cooperate in hunting, and share food together.
Red spiders build nest webs on trees, which can generally extend upwards by 15 to 20 meters, forming the largest obstacle to the insect route in the rainforest, like a huge skynet. Building such a web would require the cooperation of tens of thousands of spiders. If the web is broken, the spiders work together to repair it and expand the size of the web. Such a huge net, once the insect falls into it, it does not want to escape at all. Not to mention insects, even an animal as big as a bird can hardly get out if it gets caught in it. The vibrations caused by the struggle of the prey will soon spread to all corners of the giant web, and many spiders will rush up and besiege the prey. They will spew a sticky liquid from the wire spitting device, tie up the insect, and then insert the mouthpiece into the most vulnerable part of the insect, inject the venom into it, and the insect will soon die. Then the elves began to share the big meal.
"Fishing Nets"
The web woven by the ghost-faced spider is very special and looks like a fishing net. The silk web of the ghost-faced spider is woven from a very special multi-stranded silk thread. Before weaving the web, the ghost-faced spider first chooses a point close to the ground and then begins to weave the web. It combs the silk thread backwards, in order to make the silk thread more hairy, this silk thread lacks mucus, but the hair on it has a strong adhesion, which can tightly entangle the insect's hairy legs, and the spider silk also has a strong elasticity.
After weaving the web, the ghost-faced spider will stretch its front legs down to probe the distance from the ground, and then cut most of the auxiliary silk threads connecting the "fishing net", leaving only the hairy rectangular "fishing net". While hunting, the ghost-faced spider lifts the web up on its four front legs, its eyes fixed on the ground. The ghost-faced spider's eyes are very sensitive, so it can hunt in dim environments. Once a prey reaches under the "fishing net" it holds high, it will unceremoniously cover the prey and tie it tightly, and the fluffy spider silk can wrap around the prey deadly, making it difficult to break free.
Spherical net
One of the most delicate nets woven by spiders is the spherical web. This net is arguably one of the most ingenious and complex architectural structures in the animal kingdom. It is often female spiders that weave this web. When weaving this web, the female spider needs to find a suitable position on a high place, such as a branch, and then spit out a long silk thread into the air. If you're lucky, one end of the freely fluttering silk thread will catch another branch. When the female spider feels that the silk thread has grasped the object opposite, she will wrap the silk thread tightly and fix the thread. Then, the female spider climbed onto the thread, spat out a softer thread, and tied the two ends of the thread tightly. It then climbs to the middle of the soft line, so that the soft line droops, forming a V-shape. The spider draws another line from the lower end of this V-shaped silk thread and drags the line vertically down, thus forming a Y-shape, and this structure is the center of the web. The spider can easily grasp very fine silk threads through its jagged claws and barbed leg hair. It walks along the silk line while spitting out more frame lines between the various anchor points. It then starts constructing the radial line from the center of the net. When all the radiation threads are built, the spider spits out a large number of non-sticky threads to form an auxiliary spiral web that extends from the center to the edge of the web. Finally, the spider uses the auxiliary spiral web as a reference, and does a spiral walk on the web, spitting out sticky silk threads as it walks, while eating the original auxiliary spiral web. In this way, except for the non-adhesive line of the radiation line, the other lines are all highly viscous silk threads. When all the work is done, a graceful, symmetrical spherical web is woven.
When the web is woven, the spider sits in the middle of the web, with eight legs on the spokes of the web.
Any vibration on the spokes is transmitted to its legs and is received by a miniature sensory organ inside the leg joint, which is so sensitive that even the slightest vibration can be felt. Alert spiders will immediately tighten their spokes nearby and make accurate judgments about the orientation and distance of their prey.
When the insect touches the web, the web stretches out and then returns to its original size. Cobwebs have a super telescopic ability, and if they do not have this ability, insects that touch the web are likely to be catapulted out. The sticky droplets on the silk mesh also play a crucial role. The tension on the surface of the droplet can make the loose cobwebs tense, and a drop of mucus is equivalent to a spool of a silk thread. When the insect touches the net, it struggles desperately, pulling a silk thread out of the mucus, slowing down its struggle. The surface tension then restores the thread to its original shape so that the spiral does not break and the entire web restores its symmetry. Once caught in prey, the female spider spits out another kind of silk, which is like a sheet coming out of the spitter, a silk with fluff that is specifically used to bind the prey.
If the spherical net is damaged and can no longer be used, the female spider will generally take the initiative to destroy it, that is, eat most of the silk thread, which is recycled as a raw material. However, the female spider will also leave a thick bridge line for re-weaving the web.
"Fishing Line"
In the tropical forests of South America, there is a spider that specializes in catching flying insects, known as the "fisherman spider".
When hunting, the fisherman spider first chooses a light and straight branch in the woods as a "fishing rod", and then spits out a long spider silk at one end of the rod, and hangs a silk ball made of mucus underneath to make a "fishing line" and "fishing bait".
When insects fly around in the forest, most people see "fishing bait" floating with the wind as a delicious delicacy. When there is no wind, the fisherman spider uses its front legs to pull the spider silk and let the "fishing bait" swing around to lure the insect to the bait. Once the insect pounces on the "bait", the mucus sticks to it. The fisherman spider climbs down the "fishing line" and eats the insects. The "fishing" of the fisherman spider is extremely efficient, with a "fishing line", a fisherman spider can catch about 10 insects per hour.
"Great place to stay in Kyoto"
The water spider can be said to be a rebel in the spider kingdom, and the only spider that can live underwater. So, how do water spiders breathe underwater? Through dissection, scientists have found that water spiders, like land spiders, have trachea and book lungs, but cannot absorb the oxygen dissolved in water, so water spiders must expose their respiratory organs to the surface of the water to breathe, just like marine mammals. But unlike marine mammals, the water spider does not stick its head but the end of its abdomen, and then quickly retracts back into the water, at which point its abdomen is covered with a large blister. It turns out that the water spider uses the physical effect of the fluff on its body to adsorb air and bring air underwater. In addition, the water spider has a huge stomata on the outside of the abdomen, which is connected to the dense organs and bronchi in the body, and the well-developed organ system allows the water spider to absorb more air.
In order not to let the air brought into the water float up, the water spider weaves a frame with silk in this large blister, and then uses a silk to tie the bubble to the sponge or other aquatic weeds. This bubble of silk and air becomes the solid underwater nest of the water spider. The "bubble room" built by the water spider can not only store oxygen, but also produce oxygen. As the water spider breathes, the oxygen concentration in the bubble will continue to decrease, and when it is below 16%, the oxygen dissolved in the water will automatically replenish it. When the spider is in a rest state, the oxygen consumption is not large, and the oxygen in the bubble can meet the requirements; but when the spider is active, the supply of oxygen in the water cannot keep up, and the water spider has to float to the surface of the water to carry oxygen. When the "bubble room" is built, the water spider will catch small fish and shrimp and other animals, and bring these prey to the "bubble room" to enjoy slowly. Activities such as mating, spawning and child rearing of water spiders are also carried out in this "bubble room".
"Soul Hunting"
Australia has a very poisonous red-backed spider,
It is closely related to the infamous Black Widow spider, which is not only highly toxic, but also weaves a very special web, wide and deep, three-dimensional. This intricate, elaborate web, built by female red-backed spiders, is usually located in the backlight. When the female spider builds this web, she first chooses a flat and hidden ground, and then carries a silk thread down from a high place to the ground, sticking the end of the silk thread to the ground; then, it drags another silk thread back to the starting point above, and glues it to the first silk thread to strengthen it; then, it pulls the thread tight, and a "soul-hunting rope" is completed. Next, it dragged a silk line to the ground... In order to build such a three-dimensional network, it has to go back and forth many times, fixing dozens of silk threads vertically, and also tightening each silk thread tightly, and decorating it with extremely sticky droplets. In this way, when the insect accidentally touches these ropes, it will "snap" and be hung upside down in mid-air. The elasticity of the silk thread is excellent, and no matter how the insects toss and turn, it will not help. The vibration of the silk thread will immediately reach the red-backed spider that is lurking above. Since the prey is suspended in mid-air and cannot escape, it will not rush to eat unless the spider is hungry, and it will pull up and enjoy when it is hungry. "Thunderbolt Meteor Hammer"
Compared to the red-backed spider, the Meteor Hammer spider hunts in a more extreme way, because this spider only uses one spider silk to prey on.
Meteor Hammer Spider combines attack and defense skills, and can be described as a "kung fu master". The Meteor Hammer Spider rests during the day and hunts at night, often disguising itself as a small lump of bird droppings during breaks to trick predators who try to eat it. The offensive weapon of this spider is the famous "Thunderbolt Meteor Hammer".
When night fell, the Meteor Hammer Spider gave up its disguise and began to prepare for hunting. It first builds a horizontal silk thread under the leaves, and then hangs down from this silk thread. Then, it spits out a tough spider silk and uses its hind legs to pull the spider silk out of the silk spat, forming a sticky silk ball at the end of the spider silk, which is its hunting weapon "Meteor Hammer". In other words, the "Meteor Hammer" is actually a sticky gelatinous mass hanging from one of the spider's front legs.
The Meteor Hammer Spider emits a sex hormone odor similar to that of female moths to lure male moths, and it can even change the smell of "chemical perfume" depending on the moth species. Male moths gradually approach the spider after smelling this odor. The spider reacts quickly after detecting the vibration of the moth's wings - it wields the "Meteor Hammer" like a kung fu master, and the rapid movement of the slime droplets can easily make the male moth mistakenly think that the female moth is flying, thus entering the range of the meteor hammer spider. The meteor hammer spider looks at the target, and when the hammer is smashed, as long as the moth is hit, it will immediately be stuck by the sticky sticky filament, and it will become the spider's mouth food.
Even humans who have mastered modern textile technology are amazed at the creativity and superb skills of spider web weaving.