Photo caption: “Fired spiders and gum” from the web site, “Photography by Ewen Bell.” Neat site – check it out.
March 21, 2007
This post is for my wife. Read it quickly before it is prevailed upon me to amend it or take the post down.
Me: spiders gotta live somewhere. I just Zen them. As long as they don’t change the settings on my computer or eat my ice cream – I’m good. Whatever.
My wife: Spiders seem to make my normally unfazed, calm, and sedate wife go from zero to animated in a nanosecond. I know of nothing else that bothers my wife (except liberals… fortunately she doesn’t feel the need to squish them… .)
It is somewhat the source of amusement with me. Trust me, my amusement is not shared by my wife, and I have long since learned to adjust my approach. [Soccer Dad doesn’t wear paisley (My goodness that was an ugly tie.) - - I take spiders seriously – when they are the source of my wife’s undivided attention…]
Me to wife: Wife, I just saw on Nancy Grace that Anna Nicole Smith is still dead and the world is going to come to an end. Could ya please help me grab my computer before we go to the bomb shelter?
Wife: I don’t care - - There’s a spider in the house! Get it.
Over the years we have come to a sorta agreement. Found spiders in the house are not to be killed. They are to be invited to go outside… This seems to work as long as the spider is cooperative.
For the safety of spiders, I have posted a sign at the back door that our house is not safe for spiders. It seems to have worked.
Sooo, it was with some amusement that I saw that “Spiders Love to Snuggle.”
Perhaps Jeremy Bruno up at Voltage Gate (Besides, Mr. Bruno has not one article about spiders on his blog. What gives”) may have to interpret some of this for us, but according to Jeanna Bryner LiveScience Staff Writer LiveScience.com Wed Mar 21, 8:45 AM ET :
While not usually considered paragons of tender, familial love, some spiders do have a touchy-feely side. Scientists have discovered two arachnids that caress their young and snuggle together.
Social behavior is extremely rare in arachnids, a group of critters typically defined by their aggression, clever hunting methods and even predatory cannibalism.
"This was the best example I had ever seen of friendly behavior in an arachnid," said lead study author Linda Rayor, a Cornell University entomologist.
[…]
Video: Spider Baby Rub
Video: Spider Tickle
For (Phrynus) marginemaculatus, the stroking was mutual, with the three-week-olds also whip-caressing their moms and one another.
Video: Spider Siblings
[…]
Video: Spiders' Psychedelic Courtship Dance
Images: Creepy Spiders
Original Story: Creepy: Spiders Love to Snuggle
Since this is a family blog – we may wanna have Attila pick up the story here and here… . He goes places I can’t.
Read the rest of the article here: “Spiders Love to Snuggle.”
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Spider No. UB6 - September 26, 2007
