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Researchers find signs of intelligence among jumping spiders

knowablemagazine.org

61–70 of 197 posts

Re: Researchers find signs of intelligence among jumping spiders

#61
post #12

I had a pet jumper in my first apartment. He would follow me and my wife from room to room, wave at us, and sit by the sink when he was thirsty. We gave him water and called him Steve.

In case anyone ever finds this via Google, how much water? How did you serve it? A saucer/plate?

I put a drop of water on the counter. That was plenty for him.

Re: Researchers find signs of intelligence among jumping spiders

#62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jumping spiders have definitely helped me get over arachnophobia a bit. They're just too cute to be afraid of.

How so?

They're extremely small, the photo in the article is misleading: the prose explains they're ~1 mm in size

Re: Researchers find signs of intelligence among jumping spiders

#64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's great, but if I ever see a jumping spider in my house then I will not hesitate to murder it in cold blood.

They're not what you think, they're less than 1 mm lol

I know exactly what they are and I stand by my statement.

Re: Researchers find signs of intelligence among jumping spiders

#65
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In case anyone ever finds this via Google, how much water? How did you serve it? A saucer/plate?

I put a drop of water on the counter. That was plenty for him.

Thanks!

Re: Researchers find signs of intelligence among jumping spiders

#66
post #11

I forget who said this or exactly what they said, but someone has pointed out that the more research humans conduct the more we find that animals and even plants are more complex, more intelligent and more sophisticated than we thought. It is worth keeping this in mind the next time someone tells you a small creature (perhaps a crustacean) cannot feel or think or do something that would mean we ought to be less cruel…

That's great, but if I ever see a jumping spider in my house then I will not hesitate to murder it in cold blood.

That's so sad. I'm pretty militantly anti-spider but jumping spiders, despite seeming like they were sent from hell to terrify us, are just little furry big-eyed arthro-bros

Re: Researchers find signs of intelligence among jumping spiders

#67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How so?

They're extremely small, the photo in the article is misleading: the prose explains they're ~1 mm in size

If you find macro shots of their faces too they kinda look like dogs with a few extra eyes

Re: Researchers find signs of intelligence among jumping spiders

#68
post #23
post #12

I had a pet jumper in my first apartment. He would follow me and my wife from room to room, wave at us, and sit by the sink when he was thirsty. We gave him water and called him Steve.

There's a reasonable pet trade for them. I never had the heart to put one in a box though. The most interesting interaction I had was watching one hunt a fly. The fly landed, and it crawled down on the side of the board the fly was on, out of sight. It emerged behind the fly, then snuck up on it, similar to how a cat does (move, pause, move, pause). Then, when it attacked, it didn't jump at the fly, but jumped up in…

I had a similar experience with one many years ago, but with the differences that it happened on a chair, and another fly tried to save his "buddy", which I had never seen before. It was like watchin' somethin' from the Nature channel unfold right there in "real life" in front of me. Smartest little spiders I know of. Amazing little critters for sure.

Re: Researchers find signs of intelligence among jumping spiders

#69
post #50

I think the scientific consensus for cognition and brain size has been for a long time that the size matters much less than we previously thought. For instance, ravens/crows show remarkable problem solving skills and intelligence on par with much larger animals and their brains are extremely small. Given how much meat we as a society consume, and how we treat animals generally, it makes sense that we'd collectively a…

Anyone who's ever interacted with any kind of animal knows how they are intelligent. The lack of science on this matter is not the reason we still consume meat and more science won't change anything. We've always found ways to justify/accept our need for meat and wel'll continue doing this as long as science doesn't find an equally nutritious alternative that can be produced at scale.

I’m not making any kind of statement as to why we consume meat or whether we should, just making an observation

Re: Researchers find signs of intelligence among jumping spiders

#70
I had a pet jumping spider that came to me one day. She was magical. She used to make artistic scribbles in the (sometimes) foggy glass of her terrarium. The she escaped one day (I always left a little crack open at the bottom of her home to give her the option of leaving) and I never saw her since.
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