Easygoing Eyebeast Jerakeen Posted December 27, 2012 Share Posted December 27, 2012 At first I thought this was a hoax. In fact, I'm still a little dubious, but if true this is incredible. http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/12/spider-building-spider/ Warning to the sensitive: This link leads to depictions of spiders — made by spiders! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easygoing Eyebeast keira Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 ARAN CHECK OUT THIS LINK ITS REALLY COOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Well-Actually War Trall A less presumptuous name. Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 Sylae, that's just mean. It is really cool, though. There are some really awesome animals out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easygoing Eyebeast Jerakeen Posted December 28, 2012 Author Share Posted December 28, 2012 I find it really hard to believe that the spiders actually know what they're doing, but this is astonishingly complex behavior for pure instinct. Or maybe it's just the result that's astonishing to a human, and it's no stranger than the myriad of other survival strategies that evolution has produced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ineffable Wingbolt Mosquito---Slayer Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 Bah, I always knew spiders would be the new lords and masters of the world, and I think Jeff will be their trusted servant. Or maybe it's just the result that's astonishing to a human, and it's no stranger than the myriad of other survival strategies that evolution has produced. I will go with this, as a hobby I have spent some time to observe the behavior of insects and similar things including ants, spiders, scorpions,grasshoppers and very rarely snakes(and obviously mosquitoes) and while I haven't discovered anything that great, they do some pretty cool things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easygoing Eyebeast Trenton. Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 GIFTS Making Decoy GIFTS? What is this Gypsy magic? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyshakk Koan Lauren CW Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 This amuses me greatly. Also the comments at the top of the page were quite funny. Thanks for sharing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ineffable Wingbolt BMA Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 Wow. Now decoys, what next ? Makes you wonder how much more the spiders are capable of evolving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easygoing Eyebeast Trenton. Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 Or makes you wonder how much more deadly they can get. I want you all to promise me something. If you ever see a spider, I want you to smash it dead, alright? Don't just put it in a little cup and take it back outside, because It'll just find its way back in. Kill them. Kill them all. Yes. With fire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ineffable Wingbolt Mosquito---Slayer Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 I want you all to promise me something. If you ever see a spider, I want you to smash it dead, alright? Don't just put it in a little cup and take it back outside, because It'll just find its way back in. Kill them. Kill them all. What if it says : "You are cute"? (In a rather high pitched voice I mean) BMA 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easygoing Eyebeast Jerakeen Posted December 28, 2012 Author Share Posted December 28, 2012 Trenton, spiders are our allies in the war against mosquitoes. Plus, lots of other critters are much more deadly to humans. Do you want to kill them all? Actaeon 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Well-Actually War Trall Actaeon Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 The vast majority of spiders are harmless. I can understand the creepy-crawly response, but an arachnophobe wanting them all dead is like a clastrophobe calling for the destruction of all caves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unflappable Drayk Death Knight Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 I used to hate spiders, but whatever jeff says is cool is cool. The gifts were pretty funny too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk nikki. Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 ...a clastrophobe calling for the destruction of all caves. When can we begin this most splendid of works? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easygoing Eyebeast keira Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 When can we begin this most splendid of works? The Great and Powerful Nikki does not trust caves. Lauren CW 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Well-Actually War Trall Actaeon Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 Note to self: reductio ad absurdum does not work on Spidweb. A less presumptuous name. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unflappable Drayk The Loquacious Lord Grimm Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 (edited) Yes, extremely cool. @actaeon- you've been here how long, and you're just now realizing? EDIT: By the time I caught the typo, it had already posted, and the mobile page wouldn't let me edit it. It's fixed now. Jeez. The Silent Assassin is testing this fancy new ipb for mobile thing. So far, the autocorrect isn't too bad, but the lack of formatting options is a little frustrating. Also, it needs more pie. Edited December 29, 2012 by Lenar Labs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easygoing Eyebeast Goldengirl Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 a clastrophobe calling for the destruction of all caves. Plato suddenly makes perfect sense to me. nikki. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Alorael at Large Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 I'd be slack-jawed with astonishment at a spider's ability to accomplish this without any real cognitive capacity, but single cells can accomplish astonishing feats of engineering (like producing an entire fetus!) so I'm just regularly astonished. —Alorael, who has to work harder on training his pet spider. Just spelling out messages in a web isn't going to impress anyone anymore. Lauren CW 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Kelandon Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 (edited) The vast majority of spiders are harmless. I can understand the creepy-crawly response, but an arachnophobe wanting them all dead is like a clastrophobe calling for the destruction of all caves. I think a "clastrophobe" would be afraid of destruction/breaking things, so one would want quite the opposite of that. Edited December 29, 2012 by ξ Admittedly, the root is not quite right. But it's close enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Well-Actually War Trall Actaeon Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 Additional note to self: always check spelling. Tries to resist correcting Lenar's spelling of his PDN as a way of softening his failure. Goes the passive agressive route. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Understated Ur-Drakon Callie Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 At first I thought this was a hoax. In fact, I'm still a little dubious, but if true this is incredible. http://www.wired.com...uilding-spider/ Warning to the sensitive: This link leads to depictions of spiders — made by spiders! This just in: Spiderweb Software has confirmed that its arachnid customers overwhelmingly choose shadowwalkers as their main characters in the game Avadon: The Black Fortress. Dikiyoba 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Dikiyoba Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 Trenton, spiders are our allies in the war against mosquitoes. Not to mention that spiders are our allies in the war against other spiders. Species are distinguished on the basis of the structure of the male and female genitalia. Admittedly, Dikiyoba knows nothing about arachnid taxonomy, but that seems like a really limited way to distinguish species. Obviously, unique genitalia is a clear sign that a population of spiders are reproductively isolated from close relatives and thereby a separate species, but it seems like other morphological differences and major differences in behavior would also count as evidence that spiders are a distinct species and not just displaying variation within a species. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easygoing Eyebeast Jerakeen Posted December 29, 2012 Author Share Posted December 29, 2012 It seems to me plausible that they could be a recent enough offshoot that they wouldn't necessarily qualify as a distinct species, at least based on physical characteristics alone. Who knows? If we manage not to wipe them out, in a few thousand generations they might be constructing full 3-D, anatomically correct replicas of themselves. In which case, we can answer the question without killing any of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easygoing Eyebeast The Mystic Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 Re the original topic: I never knew that spiders used any kind of decoy at all, let alone one that was vaguely spider-shaped. That, as was pointed out already, is pretty cool. Re killing spiders: I'm something of an acachnophobe, and have killed a good number of spiders. However, I do realize the role they play in keeping my house insect-free, so I don't go out of my way to hunt them down. As long as I don't see them, I don't mind them so much; though I shudder to think about how many will come out of hiding when the basement gets a good, thorough (and long-overdue) cleaning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.