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Spiders are much smarter than you think

knowablemagazine.org

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Re: Spiders are much smarter than you think

#171

Post by culi »

michaelcampbell wrote: post #56
bryans wrote: post #18

A couple years ago I had an experience with a spider that entirely changed my perspective on them and most insects, and now I make a conscious effort to help them as much as possible, instead of kill or even repel them. This particular spider kept running back and forth between my monitor and a window, and when it'd get to my monitor, it would wave its front legs at me. If I moved to the left, it would run across to…

We have an influx of Joro spiders in our area (N/Central GA), and they are absolute nightmare fuel. I can't have them in my porch or where people are going to be; their webs are big and sticky, but I'm having a hard time bringing myself to killing them.

Interestingly the Joro spider is invasive to Georgia now, but their ecological impact is not known. They eat an invasive species of stinkbug however that the native spiders do not eat so they may actually end up having a net positive impact on the environment despite being invasive

Re: Spiders are much smarter than you think

#172

Post by jakear »

Not just spiders. I’ve a caterpillar solve puzzles I would have thought impossible via long running search with clear indications of evolving understanding of the environment and refinements to physical technique.

I was hoping to keep it around to see if it’d remember me when it became a moth, but after being kept in captivity for a couple days it showed signs of depression and I let it return to the wild. I hope to some day create an interesting enough enclosure to keep them mentally occupied for a full development cycle.

Shoutout to Ojo. Gone but not forgotten.

Re: Spiders are much smarter than you think

#173

Post by culi »

kevincox wrote: post #97
tdrdt wrote: post #26

I get tired of reading from webpages like this. - Spiders are much smarter than you think - SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER - some text - YOU MAY ALSO LIKE - some text - Shutterstock image with a big description - ... Context switching is hard for the brain. Even in readabilty mode I get substracted by the image descriptions. It's a pitty because it's a nice article.

Personally I just closed the tab when the SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER dialog obscured the article. I didn't expect to get much value from the content anyways so can't be bothered to deal with their crap.

uBlock Origin allows you to filter custom elements on webpages. I can zap those elements and next time I visit that site I won't have to put up with it. It's game-changing although I wish there was a way we could share custom filters with others so I don't have to do this for every site each time

Re: Spiders are much smarter than you think

#174

Post by mkl »

hn_go_brrrrr wrote: post #127
mkl wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Much quicker and more convenient is a spider catcher like this: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001356203377.html With that I can easily pick them up and drop them out the window or whatever. You can do it at well over arms' length too. It doesn't seem to harm them, as there's a space within the grabbing cage that they get directed to. Small spiders can crawl out between the cage bits but usually stay on the end…

Wrong link?

Looks right to me. A green and white plastic spider catcher. What do you see?

Re: Spiders are much smarter than you think

#176

Post by BrandoElFollito »

Spiders are often evil in cartoons so children usually do not like them. My children did not watch tv much but still were vary (sometimes afraid) of spiders.

I had them look at them when they work, in forests or sometimes at home and told how useful they are. And suddenly they were happy when a spider lived in they room.

They even managed to convert their friends and recently, some 10 years later, I witnessed how one of said friends noticed a spider on the ceiling and smiled.

If the stereotypes of spiders change, so will their level of acceptance.

Re: Spiders are much smarter than you think

#177

Post by Swenrekcah »

bryans wrote: post #18

A couple years ago I had an experience with a spider that entirely changed my perspective on them and most insects, and now I make a conscious effort to help them as much as possible, instead of kill or even repel them. This particular spider kept running back and forth between my monitor and a window, and when it'd get to my monitor, it would wave its front legs at me. If I moved to the left, it would run across to…

A fascinating story, thanks for sharing. If you haven’t already, check out the novel Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

Re: Spiders are much smarter than you think

#179

Post by yumraj »

culi wrote: post #166
agumonkey wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's something that gets to me anytime I see animals with their offsprings. A documentary about octopuses last moments in life, really shook me. It might be interpretation/anthropomorphism but anyway, apparently after laying eggs, the octo mom will breath out water (warmed by her body) around them. The process lasts a while and when she's exhausted she spends the remaining energy to swim as far as possible and die…

A lot of spiders have spread with humans and, depending on your environment, would probably not be able to survive outside. I usually ignore spiders I see in my house. I figure for every spider that's probably at least 3 less other bugs. One time we even let a daddy long legs care for its babies and watched as the hundred little eggs finally matured and hatched. Most of those babies probably died, but those that surv…

I’m generally very lenient with DLLs but others freak me out, especially when one drops suddenly from the top.

Re: Spiders are much smarter than you think

#180

Post by freeflight »

tomerv wrote: post #25
bryans wrote: post #18

A couple years ago I had an experience with a spider that entirely changed my perspective on them and most insects, and now I make a conscious effort to help them as much as possible, instead of kill or even repel them. This particular spider kept running back and forth between my monitor and a window, and when it'd get to my monitor, it would wave its front legs at me. If I moved to the left, it would run across to…

I used to let spiders live freely in my house, until one time I wanted to go to bed at night and noticed dozens of black spots on the bed cover. I looked up and saw hundreds of tiny spider babies on the ceiling. From then on, whenever I see a spider in the house I get rid of it. Sorry...

Your bed is very likely already crawling with all kinds of organisms, spiders at least keep mosquitoes in check.
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