It is said that recently a foreign netizen accidentally witnessed the whole process of weaving a small spider's web at his doorstep.
After reading it, he was really convinced.
I didn't look carefully before, but today I went to search around and found spider weaving webs, and I really have a set!
Round cobwebs
Many of the common spiders in gardens are weavers of round cobwebs.
They adjust the design of their spider webs based on the prey they are most likely to catch.
For example, if most of the catches are flies, it will weave the net a little tighter, and if it wants to catch crickets, it will weave the net more sticky and stronger.
This golden ball textile spider has 7 silk glands, each of which can spit out a different silk.
These 7 kinds of silk have different functions, some silk is used to weave nets, some silk is used to make egg bags, and some silk is used to wrap prey.
Very particular...
Spider architecture
In most of the spider webs, the silks that act as spokes are usually harder threads, and they are not sticky.
These spokes are like the foundation of a house.
After laying the "foundation", the spider will start weaving from the outside to the inside, and the silk spit out at this time is sticky.
Because there are strong spokes for support.
Once a hapless bug falls on the web, the spider kills the worm on it, and after a series of fierce actions such as the echidna, the web usually does not break.
They only need to repair the broken places, and they do not need to re-weave the entire net.
This is very important.
Although you see spiders as if weaving is easy, in fact, weaving spider webs requires a huge amount of energy from spiders.
Cobweb decoration
This St. Andrew's Cross Spider not only weaves webs, it also decorates webs! Made a lace pattern for the net.
Why?
At first, the research thought that it might be to increase the stability of the spider's web, or to make it look bigger on its own.
But in recent years, researchers have gradually come to think that maybe they are just more silk and have no place to use, just casually weave some patterns,
Or, it could also be a way for male and female spiders to attract male spiders.
Most male spiders never weave webs, they can spit silk, and some will use these silks to wrap dead bugs as gifts to female spiders in case they are eaten before mating.
Garbage net
Some spiders have aesthetics, and some don't.
For example, this garbage line spider.
This spider will weave feces, leftover prey, debris and other garbage into a single line.
One of the functions of this garbage line is to act as a camouflage for spiders, and the other is to hide the egg sac.
In 2012, researchers found a spider in the Peruvian Amazon forest with superior technology.
It's only 1/4 inch long, but it made itself a 1-inch fake spider out of garbage.
This fake spider is lying on the web, and the real spider will also give people the illusion that the fake spider will move by shaking the spider web.
Spider wires
In general, spiders stick to their prey by spitting out sticky silk.
But this spider with hairy legs, the silk they spit out is completely free of stickiness, but it can still catch its prey.
They first spit out a very, very fine filament from an organ called a sieve.
These nanoscale filaments are then combed and pulled with special hairs on the hind legs, and finally, the silk threads produce static electricity, and this raised "hair ball" appears, which is very sticky, even if there is no mucus, it can still stick to the prey.
Weave out a coiled silk hole
Not all spiders are woven round webs, hunting spiders such as tarantulas do not weave webs at all, and some spiders weave more functional webs, such as funnel spiders.
They usually weave a flat net to hunt and a pipe to their comfortable nest.
Resting in the nest every day, as soon as they feel that there are bugs in the net, they will immediately rush out of the nest and pull the bugs back to their nests to enjoy.
Black Widow's Web
This famous poisonous spider weaves another type of web, a sheet web.
It hangs like a sheet on the surface of some plants, and some silk on the sheet net is pulled up to fix,
Under the sheet web, the Black Widow spider spat out some very tight silk threads, using mucus to connect them to the ground.
As soon as an insect touches one of the wires, the wire will immediately break off, sticking to the insect and leaving it suspended in mid-air.
The spider felt the vibration through the web of the sheets, knew that lunch was coming, and would go down to collect it.
Make a bowl out of cobwebs
This spider, called Nigma walckenaeri, weaves webs on leaves to make a small hiding place for itself.
There are also spiders that make themselves a bowl-shaped web.
The bowl-like net hangs from the plant's rhizome and the bottom is fixed to a flat net.
Flying insects will fall into the bowl and be eaten by spiders as soon as they hit a line.
Hand-grabbing net
Ghostface spiders may not look good, but they have very special skills:
They don't make a big net, but only make a foraging net between their first two legs.
After making the net, they wait quietly, and as soon as an insect passes by, they immediately rush out and catch it with the net in their hands.
Flying spiders
Spiders make webs not only for predation, but many spiders also fly through spitting silk.
One study found that the spider lifted 1 front leg to feel the wind speed for 6 seconds, and if it was too cold or the wind was too strong, it stayed still. If the weather is warm and the wind is softer, it will spit out silk, form a "spinnaker", and then fly into the air along the wind.
The following video captures the spider taking off:
https://v.qq.com/x/page/e32721uk08v.html
Spider silk can be stronger than steel wire
On the basis of the same weight, the silk threads that the spiders used to hang were several times stronger than the steel wires.
Previously, youtube channel Science Channel did an experiment.
He used a 28-gauge steel wire and 25,000 spider silks, which were as dense as steel wires.
The wire withstands 12.5 pounds of water,
Spider silk, on the other hand, can withstand 26 pounds of water.
Not only a variety of tricks, rich in functions,
Spiders are also very clever at using silk.
It might even carry a shell several times heavier than itself to a tree with silk to make a nest for itself:
https://v.qq.com/x/cover/1mm33p64tjp3ila/i0023uzsl77.html
After reading this, I feel that the spider is not only good at weaving technology, but also super smart!