Writings

Did you know some spiders like to spit? That’s how they catch their food. It’s not too polite, but it works. The Spitting Spider shoots a sticky shot at a tasty bug. The goo pins the critter to the ground. Now the spider can enjoy his snack.

Can you believe there is a spider that walks on water? The Fisher Spider hides on plants in or near the water. When the spider spots a drowning bug, it races across the water and catches supper.

Although some spiders like the Dwarf Spider are as small as the periods on this page, others come in much larger sizes. Tarantulas are big enough to eat mice, lizards, snakes and sometimes even birds or bats.

Spiders often get bad press. But the truth is that spiders are wonderful insect-eating machines. Without the more than 35,000 kinds of spiders in the world, humans would be in big trouble. We’d be overrun with insects. Crab Spiders alone can eat 30 or 40 bugs in one day!

Only 30 kinds of spiders are poisonous to humans. But all spiders bite. It’s how they inject their venom into their prey. The venom paralyzes the victim. This allows the spider to use another type of goo – digestive fluid. The spider shoots this fluid into the helpless bug. The bug’s insides are turned into mush. With this done, the spider simply sucks out his slurpy snack. Not exactly a chocolate milk shake but to a spider it must be a special treat.

Each spider has two parts to its body: a head and an abdomen. In a spider’s head there are a brain, poison glands, and surprisingly its stomach. The heart, lung, silk glands and reproductive organs are found in its larger abdomen.

Spiders usually have eight eyes. The two in the middle of the first row focus on images while the others see light and movement. Even with so many eyes spiders don’t generally see too well. That’s why so many of them build webs. Their food can come to them, so they don’t need Superman vision.

While some people fear spiders, others have them for pets. In your house and yard, there is a large variety of spiders. Be observant and you can watch them in action. Spiders – nature’s own sticky wonder.

Further Reading:

• Smithsonian Education: Under the Spell of Spiders

• Someone Saw a Spider: Spider Facts and Folktales by Shirley Climo. A collection of myths, folklore, and superstitions about spiders from around the world, plus facts about how they live.

• Anansi the Spider: a Tale from Ashanti by Gerald McDermott. A classic African folktale.

• Spiders by Seymour Simon. Incredible pictures of these surprising creatures.