discovery...

BJ discovered this super scary, creepy, and still somehow amazing (despite all the freakiness) spider in our backyard yesterday.



Did you know that an orb web may have 1,200 junctions, each crafted perfectly? The spider must calculate the exact length and tension of each succeeding line so the earlier ones don't go slack. Slack lines don't transmit vibrations. The standard orb web is completed in only 20 minutes at about 3 - 4 a.m. Most orb weavers rebuild their webs once a day; they take the web down and eat it to be completely recycled in their body and reused in about 30 minutes. Spiders coat their feet with an oily fluid from their mouths so they don't stick to the webs. Because spiders have oil on their legs, the don't stick to their own webs, while everything else will stick to the web.
During (homeschool) kindergarten, Kennady, Addy and I studied about spiders. One of our assignments was to touch scotch tape and feel how sticky it was. Then, we dipped our fingers in a little bit of vegetable oil and touched the tape again. It was no longer sticky! That lesson about how a spider can build it's web without sticking to it really "stuck" with the girls and they always find it amazing how a spider can build a web and trap prey. So, when BJ found the spider and it's web, he found a few bugs and dropped them into the web so we could watch the spider in action.
Web spinning spiders do not have very good eyesight, so they depend of the vibrations from the movement to alert them to prey. As soon as the bug started struggling in the web, the spider quickly climbed down the web and started wrapping it up. So, who needs the discovery channel? We are watching nature unfold in our own backyard.