Context: Researchers have discovered that spiders can alter how they receive vibratory information in loud environments. Spiders in urban environments can build webs that filter out loud ambient vibrations.
Relevance of the Topic:Prelims: Key facts about Spiders.
Spiders and vibratory information
- Spiders in urban environments can build webs that filter out loud ambient vibrations.
- Conversely, spiders from quieter rural spaces build webs that amplify biologically relevant vibrations they need to pick up in their noisy environment.
Key Facts about Spiders
- Spiders are not insects, but belong to a group called the arachnids. Spiders differ from insects as they have eight legs not six and six or eight eyes (two in insects).
- Spiders are known for making silk webs to catch insects. They spin silk from a liquid made by special glands. They are found everywhere in the world, except for Antarctica.
- Most spider species are carnivorous that capture and eat other insects. However, one species in Central America has been found to be mostly herbivorous.
- Spiders digest their food outside their bodies. After capturing its prey, a spider covers it with digestive juices. The juices break down prey’s body into liquid form that the spider sucks up.
- Spiders are important pest controllers for a habitat, and they are food for other species too.
- Spider webs are the extensions of the spider’s sensory system. Vibratory information from the web is crucial for spiders because they do not have ears.
- Spider silk is an amazing natural material with unique properties. It has inspired researchers to develop materials derived from spider silk with applications in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.
- Spiders shed their outer covering, multiple times before becoming adults.
