Do spiders swear? Options

[DanMaggot]

On a daily basis I usually do one or two dog walks around my local woods. Recently on the morning strolls (which are about 7.30) I've been noticing a sharp increase in the number of spider webs. I know that at certain times of the year there is often an influx of spiders to the house, presumably because it's warmer and dryer and more full of flies.

But throughout the woods there are these wonderful webs, sometimes stretched out from branches, sometimes impossible stretched out over relatively huge distances (with unreasonably small spiders in the middle).

On these early morning walks I frequently find myself walking down paths that obviously no one else has been down that day because there are still a myriad of webs across the path and there's only so much dodging, weaving and limbo dancing me and the dog can do before we walk through one of these webs.

(As a devout arachnophobe I have to say it makes the dog walk something of a gauntlet experience).

So my question is simply do spiders swear? Not perhaps in the same manner as humans do, extrapolating from either a sexual, bodily or religious source, but do you think they feel some degree of frustration akin to that of a fisherman who's line has broken under the strain of a fish just too large to land?

What do you think?

[Cataclysm=J]

Personally I like to believe in Biology as being what you see is whats there and a spider is too simple to form a language, I;m sure they communicate through some form of movement.

The closes thing to humans on this planet to show real complex emotions like that are apes and the like. And even theirs is more instictive. I think of soemthing like a spider that is something that know it has to make a web to eat, so it makes one, if its broken, it repairs or rebuilds it and just gets on with it. I don't think there any emotion or even an evolutionary need for it. Emotion would more likly hinder their progress of repairing the web.

The only creature to even hint at the ability of empathy by the way is the arangatang (right spelling?) which is pretty amazing and its thought that they may be able to emathise with humans. I think thats pretty incredible since we put a lot of though into working out what someone else is thinking and theres just physicly less brain (logical and memory) tissue in a arangatang.

Also there are rediculous amound of spiders outside here too. Not very good foe me whos arachnophobic.

[Spook Tooth]

What do you think?

I think that you're odd, Dan. But it is a good question. And your observations on the little spider in the huge web are so true - do little spiders magicly change size to do the web weaving work then shrink back down to normal size, or what? I don't think Wikipedia will help us answer this one though...

PS. I think Cat's reply is a little more scientifically useful than mine.

[Cataclysm=J]

Your questions are too deep Dan, c'mon, its a gaming forum .

But yeah, nature is facinating. Even more so at the nanometer size, a cell is like a factory of loads and loads of mini organs in the cell like we have organs in our body. I'm finding A-Level fasinating as we were taught such a watered down version at GCSE.

[DanMaggot]

Like you Cat I'm not too keen on spiders per se (ok the big ones scare the doodah out of me).

That said their fantastic creatures to watch and the webs, be they the spiral ones or the kind of loose cocoon ones (which sometimes if given a slight tap will cascade hundreds of baby spiders).

This thing about frustration though, I'm not sure you need empathy. I've seen monkeys show frustration, anger, pleasure, depression and also temper loss. I've seen dogs show frustration and anger too. Granted neither produced verbal language to express the emotion (except anger which comes out as dogs barking or shrieking from monkeys), it was more often reflected in body language or physical responses.

Spiders. Well - insects are kind of amazing when you think about how complex their behaviour is for so little brain/thought capacity.

I suspect spiders don't swear, but I could believe that it's not too much projection to think they feel something between fear and frustration.

"Gad, now I have to start over again."

Some questions we're just never going to answer.

[Cataclysm=J]

I didn't mean they need empathy, i just added that. But I just don't think they're complex enough to take pride and feel possestion over their work that would least to frustration when its damaged.

[Sureshot]

I think they shake their front leg in a sort of fist-in-air sort of way and shout "I was up all night making that damn web!!!"

There was a article about this in the paper that said that due to the mild winter and very warm summer there has been an explosion in the population of spiders. They are going into overdrive in the web building so that they are well fed for mating just before winter. The females then lay there eggs and die off over the winter period.

I took a fantastic picture of a web last winter that had frost all over it (can't find it on my new system anywhere). But it was amazing to think that the strcuture was supporting all that frozen water yet still hanging due to its super strength.

[DanMaggot]

I'm with you Sureshot, that's my kind of toonish view of the world.

It's not that I feel they have anger towards anyone. Nor pride in their work. It's more that they might have some degree of awareness that with the web gone they have to do another one. Heck even as a single cell I think I'd feel frustrated!

On a side note I had seen a large dead spider on a floor in the house for a few days and had been working round to removing it.....look, I know it's dead, but arachnophobia aint about intelligent reaction so much as gut feeling. Anyway I was working up to removing it and then the other day I came down and the body was gone. Except for a leg. Now, that means there's a bigger spider somewhere. I may have to avoid that room altogether for several weeks.

How long do spiders live?

[Cataclysm=J]

We had a spider behind our door that was 4.5 inches long, imagine how I felt about that when I saw it . My dad had to get rid of it (he just came and picked it up, like it wasnt scary or something) but me and my mum had to take turns watching it to make sure it didnt come in the house.

[Spook Tooth]

Not meant to be very effective for picking up the little tiddlers amongst the spider population, but big beasties... That's a different story.

http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/kitsch-daft...cher/index.html

[Cataclysm=J]

What a great (and useful) idea. But I think this beats it outright for coolness:

Click

[Sureshot]

There has never been a recorded fatality in the UK from a spider bite. They are all very harmless. I know that doesn't mean much to the arachnaphobe but its some comfort. "Some 12 people have died from Wasp stings this year alone"!

How do I protect myself from spiders?

If you want to humanely rid your home of spiders maybe you could get something like this Dan:

Spider vacuum

I usually just leav them to get on with it. They usually disappear back into the underworld eventually. Its house flies and wasps that I track with vengeance and a newspaper!

Ker....Splat!!!!

[Cataclysm=J]

Flys are far too annoying to just ignore, especially since theres been so many this year. I tend to follow them round with my modified fly swat splatting them (then running away before any realises it was me who made the mess). But worse than flys are mosquitoes, they earn the right of having my big physics text book to squash them (flys make too much mess on the book).

[DanMaggot]

I'm sad to say I'm up there with you on mozzies. Can't sleep in a room with a moz - have to kill it first.

As far as spiders go, I'm fortunate to live in a large house and most of the time if the spider's got one staircase then I'll use the other one. Mind you, it's pretty sinister the way they set up shop in doorways, on lightswitches and on staircases I think, and lets not even consider the dunny spider.

There is one large spider we get that I don't mind (I don't mind the tiddlers either), we sometimes get this tiny thing with a body the size and shape of a small pea but with legs like a daddy long legs. Weirdly this is the only spider I've seen go around in gangs.

[Cataclysm=J]

Strangly enough they're actually called Daddy Long Legs Spiders, they do seem to group together in one room. Theres one particular spider I can't stand, its like a Daddy Long Legs one but the little pod thing they carry all their organs in insted of just being a ball are sort of arched, thats the only real difference but I hate them and don't mind Daddy Long Legs Spiders too much. I think the horror is kind of in the elegant design.