Apparently we’re in the month of Arachtober, leaving me no choice but to share this clip of David Attenborough narrating the construction of a spider’s orb web.
For a somewhat lighter version, there’s always this.
(Attenborough clip from Life in the Undergrowth)
Spiders are amazing creatures. It is such an amazing feat how they build these webs to catch their food. Imagine how inefficient man would be if they had to do things such as this.
I’m sure if we had the biological programming honed by millions of years of evolution, we’d be just fine.
I friggen love spiders. My favorite creature.
Lovely. I have watched this process many times. In my younger years I would keep various species as pets, either outdoors or loose in my room. Web building behavior must be among the most elaborate programmed behaviors of an individual arthropod.
Videos are fine and there are outstanding books about spiders, but everybody should take the time to watch a big orb weaver do her stuff outside. I certainly hope that kids are seeing natural wonders like this and not just being flogged through prep for standardized tests.
+1000 to that, Jim.
Great video. Love the timelapses of the weaving processes.