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Week 6[19-25.11.18] Jumping spiders

Spiders are generally hated by people. We’re afraid of them because of stories about the venomous ones.
Actually, there is a special family of spiders,  which is named Salticidae. Those are jumping spiders. They are very special. They have an advantage of 140 billion years of evolution from “bird eaters.
I have some „bird eaters” also known in English as „tarantulas” and I can say that they are a way less intelligent than jumping spiders. They are almost blind, can recognize only the day or the night. They use hearing to hunt. Their logic is all about: I hear a prey, I hunt the prey, eat it and that’s all. Jumping spiders have eyes that are very unique. They use them to hunt the prey… But before, they make a glorious plan of „HOW TO DO IT?”, „FROM WHERE SHOULD I ATTACK?”, „IS IT SAVE FOR ME?”.
A group of engineers made a test on a jumping spider. Phidippus Audax were used in this test. Please watch the video and answer the questions below:





1. What happened when  a fly was shown to the spider? Do you think that jumping spiders due to their evolution are kind of intelligent?
2. What is the resolution of jumping spider’s eyes and why do they need so many of them?
3. Are you afraid of spiders? Share your thoughts about spiders at all :)

You can start the video from 03:00. The first part is only the introduction.
 


Comments

1. What happened when a fly was shown to the spider? Do you think that jumping spiders due to their evolution are kind of intelligent?
If I understood correctly, their brain activity increases once they see a fly. I don't know if we should call them intelligent, it is rather their instinct, but I must admit that they are one of the most intelligent among spiders (I've heard that Portia fimbriata is the most intelligent one).

2. What is the resolution of jumping spider’s eyes and why do they need so many of them?
Resolution of jumping spider's eyes is almost the same as human eye resolution, they use lateral eyes to sense the motion of an object (for example fly) and its principle eyes to gauge depth.

3. Are you afraid of spiders?
No, I'm not afraid of spiders, this type presented by you is even kind of cute though I hate snakes and it is not that I am afraid of them, they are simply disgusting.
Evolution at its best. Such creatures prove that intelligence does not depend on a size of a brain or a specie. However, from the nature point of view it is just a regular predator. Maybe with some outstanding features.
Artem Lipovatyi said…
1. As soon as the fly gets in the field of view and the spider recognizes it, several classes of neurons show their activity.

2. Their resolution is almost the same as in humans, but a bit less. Each pair of eyes is responsible for different functionality, for example, extreme lateral eyes are responsible for determining the movement of an object.

3. No, I am not afraid of spiders, I consider them very cute insects.
In the experiment when spider recognized the fly, we start hearing a response of several classes of neurons. Maybe they more intelligent than their predecessor, because they make some decision before attack. Their resolution is almost as a human resolution but a little bit lower. One set, lateral eyes, used for detecting a motion and another for very fine vision. Honestly, I don't like spiders, the main reason is that for me they look like disgusting. But this one with big eyes look like cute. I know people who like them and keep them at home for me it's very strange. But we all different and each of us like different animals.
Unknown said…
I think that flying spiders certainly have to catch such a fly or other sacrifice, but whether the smarter ones doubtless have improved other senses, which other spiders do not have.

Each is from something else, some sideways from the change of surroundings, and the main from observing the whole surroundings, certainly the amount of eyes helps them in catching the victims.

Not necessarily, spiders in Poland do not bite fatally so there is nothing to be afraid of; p
Marcin Mróz said…
I wouldn't consider it more intelligent, in fact, the classical way of spiders' hunting seem more clever to me. From my own experience I know that it's really hard to kill a fly, because they have big eyes and can react really quickly. So I guess that jumping spiders have to try harder to catch their prey. But it's only my speculation.
I don't like spiders, maybe I'm not afraid of them, but I just don't like how they look - they disgust me a bit. So they are not welcome in my house. ;P But if they for example make a web outside my window, I consider it somehow useful, especially during summer. ;)
The spiders brain activity was much higher when he saw a shape of an fly. I didn't really knew that spiders normally don't use vision to hunt but hearing. But I think it makes sense that jumping spiders needs something more then just hearing to hunt, they need to move and think much fastrer than normal spiders. The resolution of jumping spider's eye is almost as good as human and they have so many eyes becouse they use them for different things. Front eyes are used for defining depth and other ones are used to detect movement of an object. Personally, I hate spiders very very much. I don't find them scary or dangerous just disgusting with all of their legs and eyes. Normal lazy spiders that are just sitting on their net or in black cornes of a room are ugly enough but if they could jump on me, I would probably move out of the country to some safer place without spiders.
1.What happened when a fly was shown to the spider? Do you think that jumping spiders due to their evolution are kind of intelligent?
They seem to act rather on instincts. The nature has surely created them well suited to the predator role.
2.What is the resolution of jumping spider’s eyes and why do they need so many of them?
It allows them to spot motion around them and gauge the distance so that they can perform an accurate attack.
3.Are you afraid of spiders? Share your thoughts about spiders at all :)
I don’t think that people are afraid of spiders as they are. We simply seem to be scared of what we don’t know. Due to their, for some, not attractive appearance most of the people is not really into deepening their knowledge and understanding of spiders, therefore simply claim to be scared of them.
Unknown said…
Hmmm... as you said I'm not sure about strictly "intelligence"... But I have some jumping spiders in home, and they seem interested when mr. HUMAN come close. They're ovserving us, are not afraid if you're calm, they even know when you're about to drop them some crickets etc. And yeaaaa, they are very cute, espacially in macro photography :)
Unknown said…
an amazing predator. Due to their evolution they can hunt even a prey that is 2,5x their size :o When it comes to "bird-eaters" they are almost blind and attack whatever is near, but as long, as they know that the prey is not bigger than them.
I must say, that looking at the huntings is satisfying :)
Unknown said…
As you're not afraid, would you like to have one in home? :D One fly every 2-3 days is not a big deal comparing to the amount of cuteness in your house :D
Unknown said…
hahaha :D Why you consider keeping them strange? :D They are very cute and observing them and playing with em is so satisfying :D It's just like having hamster, snake, aligator... ohh wait XD
Unknown said…
yup, in Poland we don't have many spiders that can even harm you. You can even sneak in summer for some polish species of jumping spiders :D just google which are available here and watch for them, they are not hard to spot, even if they have 0,3-1 cm. For example Salticus scenicus, evarcha spp. can be found in warm places during summer.
Unknown said…
Yup they are useful during summer :D But about killing a fly, from my experience as I'm breeding them, they easily can hunt a fly. They are very qucik, jump lasts like 0,3 second. There is no way for fly to avoid it, once spider aim them, fly is dead. :D Bigger jumping spiders consider even cockroaches and big crickets as a prey, it's amazing to watch their hunt :D As I said, from my experience I can say that they can go behind a prey, sneak without a sound and QUICK JUMP, BOOM! Prey is no longer, it's just a delicious meal :)
Unknown said…
ahahahha, you made my day with last sentence :D Just look at this, this is my recording: https://youtu.be/1U7cY0FMrhg?t=34 . They are not very scary at all :D They are very firendly as you are calm and firendly to them :D But I know what you are feeling. I was arachnophobic for... my whole life :o I was just interested of them cause of youtube videos of tarantulas, "bird eaters" and many more. And in May I bought my first spider... Now I have around... 40 of them in my house :D Give em a try and maybe watch some yt videos :D A good start would be "Ptaszniki Zająca", very nice polish guy that have soooo maaaany "bird eaters" :D
Unknown said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said…
Hmmm.. I think that people are scared cause of movies, games etc. Spiders are considered scary cause of big imagination of BIG SPIDERS EATING HUMANS :O yeaaa, even in Skyrim we can see spiders of the size of Fiat "Maluch" XD
For the whole live I was scared too :/ But as we're scared about something we can cure from it with shock. :D Going to some events with "bird eaters" and taking a big spider on hand with a companion of a experienced guy can cure arachnophobia in second :)
Unknown said…
When the spider noticed the fly, his brain started to react and in my opinion the spider was ready to attack. I do not know the rest of the spiders, but what I saw today strongly impressed me, who knows what will happen to the evolution of spiders in a few hundred years.
These spiders have eye resolution comparable to ours so they have amazing eyesight. When hunting it can be one of the most reliable methods that will allow for such long-term survival of such an advanced species.
My fear of spiders depends on the situation. If I do not expect a spider then I can be very scared but if I know that a meeting can take place with him, I accept it with calmness.
Thank you for the article. I don't really like spiders. And spiders are not to blame. I just don't like insects. I immediately imagine how they crawl on me and attack me while I sleep.
But I must admit, this species of spiders are pretty cute. While separated from me by glass or screen, of course. I would not say that their ability to jump makes them smarter than their fellows, rather, this is a new step of evolution. It definitely helps them to eat. It is very cruel on the part of men to poke a needle in a spider with a needle, even it became a pity. One thing is instant death from a boot, and quite another to mock it (

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