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Field Notes: Orb Weaver Spiders
🕑 Added 2020-09-16 01:31:00 +0000 UTCHey Deep Peeps!
We’re working hard on our next episode on Orb Weaver Spiders that’ll be coming out on next Tuesday September 22nd. Here’s what we’ve been up to.
For an animal with a brain the size of a poppy-seed, orb weaver spiders show an incredible array of complex behavior using their webs. One challenge in filming these spiders, is that they didn't exactly like to work during business hours - they usually wove their webs around 3am or 4am in the morning. Joy.
And they also didn't want to build their webs in convenient locations. Our producer for this episode, Mike Seely, built specialized plexiglass enclosures to house the spiders and encourage them to spin webs. One of the species he worked with, the long-jawed orb weaver (Tetragnatha versicolor), prefers building their webs near water, so the boxes were placed in small tubs. He placed vaseline on the clear plexiglass walls to discourage spiders from building there, so when these walls were removed, he could film the unbroken webs!
It took a few sleepless nights to finally catch the spiders at work, but with a lot of time and patience Mike was finally able to spot one building a web and film it.
Producer Cinematographer Josh Cassidy (L) and Producer Mike Seely (R) camping out with the orb weaver spiders at Tilden Park in Berkeley, CA. Our lights actually attracted quite a few moths to the party, which may have unwittingly helped feed the local spiders that night.
Have YOU ever dreamed of being a spider? If so, tell us how you would spin the perfect webby home for yourself and others.
Comments
Deep Look
We just posted a sneak peek of the episode for our patrons - watch now!
Charlie
Yesss we love a spider episode! And I'd go with the classic hammock- wouldn't catch much food, but I'd be comfy.
luna
Not related to your question, but I remember a long time ago, in 2008, we had an explosion in the number of yellow orb weaver spiders in Sydney, Australia. They were absolutely everywhere. I happened to have a school excursion to a national park and a friend and I were chatting to the tour instructor. I turned around and right in front of me was an orb weaver hanging from a thread. I, quite predictably as a 13 year old scardy-cat, ran off screaming. My friend and the instructor caught up to me laughing their heads off.
