Scientist busts five common arachnid myths
March 15, 2024 8:49 PM Subscribe
Scientist busts five common arachnid myths.
Animal behaviouralist James O'Hanlon is debunking five long-held myths about spiders.
Australian spiders are just there to paralyze you with fear while the cassowaries go to work.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 10:18 PM on March 15 [6 favorites]
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 10:18 PM on March 15 [6 favorites]
Myth #1: We eat spiders in our sleep
Ah, worry not, arachnophobes, the truth is quite the opposite of this myth!
posted by aubilenon at 11:30 PM on March 15 [9 favorites]
Ah, worry not, arachnophobes, the truth is quite the opposite of this myth!
posted by aubilenon at 11:30 PM on March 15 [9 favorites]
I'm fortunate to live in the UK where some of the native spiders can give you a nasty nip, but there's only a handful of species that are somewhat venomous, like the slowly more common false widow. But even knowing say, a cardinal spider can't really hurt you, the bastard is still up 14cm long and wigs *me* out, and I'm normally on 'capture and evict' house spider duty. My wife ands kids find them all terrifying regardless of size. I like them as a species, because at least they eat a lot of flies, and locally Blandford flies are a damn menace.
I'm just glad we don't live in Aus, where it seems you just have to accept terrifying wildlife.
"[Psychologists] are really interested in why these little, tiny, frail, benign things can generate such fear."
With the too many eyes, too many hairy legs, the fricking size of the things, that many often like to hang out in dark places with a web at convenient face height, and the fact that some of their bites can cause excruciating pain or even kill you if you piss one off and don't get antivenin? Why, I've no idea why people like them less than say, puppies.
posted by Absolutely No You-Know-What at 4:00 AM on March 16 [1 favorite]
I'm just glad we don't live in Aus, where it seems you just have to accept terrifying wildlife.
"[Psychologists] are really interested in why these little, tiny, frail, benign things can generate such fear."
With the too many eyes, too many hairy legs, the fricking size of the things, that many often like to hang out in dark places with a web at convenient face height, and the fact that some of their bites can cause excruciating pain or even kill you if you piss one off and don't get antivenin? Why, I've no idea why people like them less than say, puppies.
posted by Absolutely No You-Know-What at 4:00 AM on March 16 [1 favorite]
I mean, statistically mosquitoes kill a lot more people than spiders do -
mosquitoes kill with Malaria, Yellow Fever, etc etc.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 5:04 AM on March 16 [1 favorite]
mosquitoes kill with Malaria, Yellow Fever, etc etc.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 5:04 AM on March 16 [1 favorite]
Myth #6: They’re more afraid of you than you are of them. Spiders actually feel no fear! At most, they deign to feel contempt.
posted by lucidium at 5:06 AM on March 16 [5 favorites]
posted by lucidium at 5:06 AM on March 16 [5 favorites]
In the "Related Stories" section at the bottom: "Forget Spiders and Snakes, Horses Are More Likely To Kill You." Which is neat because I didn't even realize horses were venomous.
posted by mittens at 7:18 AM on March 16 [9 favorites]
posted by mittens at 7:18 AM on March 16 [9 favorites]
I took a canoe trip through the Louisiana bayous and there are enormous yellow spiders (someone called them banana spiders but I don't think that was their real name) there that spin gigantic webs that feel like running into monofilament fishing line should you not duck in time. Not enough to knock you out of the canoe but enough to make you think you could get knocked out of the canoe.
posted by tommasz at 7:34 AM on March 16 [2 favorites]
posted by tommasz at 7:34 AM on March 16 [2 favorites]
Squeeeee, teensy peacock spider!
posted by maryellenreads at 8:27 AM on March 16 [5 favorites]
posted by maryellenreads at 8:27 AM on March 16 [5 favorites]
No mention of Spiders Georg? Science reporting fails us again.
posted by Foosnark at 8:38 AM on March 16 [9 favorites]
posted by Foosnark at 8:38 AM on March 16 [9 favorites]
(someone called them banana spiders but I don't think that was their real name)
Garden spiders are my guess. Big and scary looking and all over the Gulf Coast and I had a friend who swore one hissed at him once (though he was not someone known for letting the truth get in the way of a good story), but not particularly dangerous to humans. They weave a thick zigzag line down their web which would be the extra resistance you felt.
posted by solotoro at 9:18 AM on March 16 [2 favorites]
Garden spiders are my guess. Big and scary looking and all over the Gulf Coast and I had a friend who swore one hissed at him once (though he was not someone known for letting the truth get in the way of a good story), but not particularly dangerous to humans. They weave a thick zigzag line down their web which would be the extra resistance you felt.
posted by solotoro at 9:18 AM on March 16 [2 favorites]
About the only time I am scared of a spider is when they show up unexpected and closer than I'd like, such as dangling in front of my face or climbing my leg, but then that would go for most animals, such as a squirrel, unexpectedly climbing on me or dangling in front of my face.
posted by AzraelBrown at 9:46 AM on March 16 [1 favorite]
posted by AzraelBrown at 9:46 AM on March 16 [1 favorite]
About the only time I am scared of a spider is when they show up unexpected and closer than I'd like, such as dangling in front of my face or climbing my leg, but then that would go for most animals, such as a squirrel, unexpectedly climbing on me or dangling in front of my face
I'd be far more worried about the squirrel, given that squirrels can carry a range of nasty diseases that humans can catch; whereas as far as I know, there are no nasty viruses that a human can catch from a spider...
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 10:30 AM on March 16 [1 favorite]
I'd be far more worried about the squirrel, given that squirrels can carry a range of nasty diseases that humans can catch; whereas as far as I know, there are no nasty viruses that a human can catch from a spider...
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 10:30 AM on March 16 [1 favorite]
6) Tarantula spiderlings are cute.
I have several Nicaraguan curly haired tarantulas barely 6mm long from toe to opposite toe. They already have a fuzzy covering and look so cute hunting fruit flies.
The dwarf Chiapas tigers are even smaller. They already show the tiger pattern and try to intimidate me with threats of throwing urticating hairs my way.
The elder Mexican Red Knee I have heard stridulate only once, it is freaky to hear a large tarantula make scary noises.
I never planned to be the Tarantula guy, the first one was a favor for a friend that was moving overseas and needed someone to foster her spider. I guess word got out, all the others are fosters or rescues.
posted by Dr. Curare at 4:31 PM on March 16 [3 favorites]
I have several Nicaraguan curly haired tarantulas barely 6mm long from toe to opposite toe. They already have a fuzzy covering and look so cute hunting fruit flies.
The dwarf Chiapas tigers are even smaller. They already show the tiger pattern and try to intimidate me with threats of throwing urticating hairs my way.
The elder Mexican Red Knee I have heard stridulate only once, it is freaky to hear a large tarantula make scary noises.
I never planned to be the Tarantula guy, the first one was a favor for a friend that was moving overseas and needed someone to foster her spider. I guess word got out, all the others are fosters or rescues.
posted by Dr. Curare at 4:31 PM on March 16 [3 favorites]
I could not tell you what specific variety of tarantula it was in the high-school biology lab, but I can tell you it did not like box elder bugs, did like crickets, would happily pounce upon and devour a big, juicy, orb-web spider, was very sensitive just after molting, and reacted immediately and defensively when exposed to buzzing noises and a light breeze. (pre-programmed terror response to predatory wasps, I think. )
posted by coppertop at 7:36 PM on March 16
posted by coppertop at 7:36 PM on March 16
In the "Related Stories" section at the bottom: "Forget Spiders and Snakes, Horses Are More Likely To Kill You."Ugh, going to check my house for horses now.
posted by farlukar at 4:42 AM on March 17 [6 favorites]
I kinda love spiders and find most of them cute/beautiful. But there was a summer back in the 00s where it felt like I couldn’t turn around without running into someone who had been hospitalized for a brown recluse bite and it tested me.
posted by thivaia at 5:29 AM on March 17 [1 favorite]
posted by thivaia at 5:29 AM on March 17 [1 favorite]
Tarantula spiderlings are cute.
IF you can get past the fear that you'll overfeed, underfeed, overwater, jostle the enclosure, or otherwise kill them. They're so tiny and vulnerable! Puppies and kittens? A breeze. Baby spider? Fraught with peril.
My kid is a tarantula kid--and enjoys them to the point that I ended up getting a Brazilian blue dwarf beauty for myself--and I'd love to say that having them totally changed my feeling about spiders so that I'm not afraid of them anymore. BUT it turns out that sometimes, spiders are just scary! Not all of them--now that I know how to recognize the little jumpers near the window, for instance, I can enjoy their presence. But the occasional black widow outside? Even though I KNOW they're not the deadly murders their reputation suggests, I feel a little frisson of terror and keep my distance. And the tarantulas themselves, with their various levels of venom and urticating hairs, can make the hair stand up on the back of my neck if I catch one on the side of its enclosure just sort of lurking at the wrong angle. My little blue guy is pretty benign, and watching him spring out to catch his food is one of the highlights of my week; but some of these guys are (a) dangerous, (b) fast, and (c) kinda crazily unpredictable, and I have to keep myself from yelping whenever their food is dropped into the enclosure and they LEAP AT IT WITH FANGS BARED.
posted by mittens at 7:18 AM on March 17 [1 favorite]
IF you can get past the fear that you'll overfeed, underfeed, overwater, jostle the enclosure, or otherwise kill them. They're so tiny and vulnerable! Puppies and kittens? A breeze. Baby spider? Fraught with peril.
My kid is a tarantula kid--and enjoys them to the point that I ended up getting a Brazilian blue dwarf beauty for myself--and I'd love to say that having them totally changed my feeling about spiders so that I'm not afraid of them anymore. BUT it turns out that sometimes, spiders are just scary! Not all of them--now that I know how to recognize the little jumpers near the window, for instance, I can enjoy their presence. But the occasional black widow outside? Even though I KNOW they're not the deadly murders their reputation suggests, I feel a little frisson of terror and keep my distance. And the tarantulas themselves, with their various levels of venom and urticating hairs, can make the hair stand up on the back of my neck if I catch one on the side of its enclosure just sort of lurking at the wrong angle. My little blue guy is pretty benign, and watching him spring out to catch his food is one of the highlights of my week; but some of these guys are (a) dangerous, (b) fast, and (c) kinda crazily unpredictable, and I have to keep myself from yelping whenever their food is dropped into the enclosure and they LEAP AT IT WITH FANGS BARED.
posted by mittens at 7:18 AM on March 17 [1 favorite]
Do you have a microscope mittens? Me and my daughter really enjoy examining molts and looking for the different types of urticating hairs.
The little grey handheld Carson microbrite from Amazon are pretty good for under $20.
posted by Dr. Curare at 3:21 PM on March 27 [1 favorite]
The little grey handheld Carson microbrite from Amazon are pretty good for under $20.
posted by Dr. Curare at 3:21 PM on March 27 [1 favorite]
« Older Max's South Seas Hideaway, Grand Rapids, Michigan | In a shocking twist, it wasn't aliens Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
1) Most spiders in the world will not kill you quickly or slowly.
2) There are no spiders the size of the one in Lord Of The Rings, even though you live in Australia.
3) There are no spiderwebs that can trap a human.
4) There are some spiders that are your friends.
5) There are some spiders that will lie to you about being your friends.
posted by hippybear at 8:52 PM on March 15 [9 favorites]