Racist Spider

I have seen the question pop up on here before, "Is someone born racist or do they learn to be racist?"

I recently came across this article about spiders that may spread some light on the subject.

A study of spiders shows female wolf spiders will eat strange-looking males that try to mate with them, but spare and even hook up with familiar-looking males.

Here, strange, is referred to as different.

The findings provide not just an interesting insight into spider behavior, but may help explain actions by "higher" animals, said arachnologist Eileen Hebets of Cornell University in New York.

The rest of the story can be found here.

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Be Cool
K_OS

Well i reckon they grow up to be a racist

instead of being racist, maybe the female spiders are just stuck up bitches.

who r ur friends? who r ur parents friends with? it all depends on ur childhood....
a child's mind must be left to evolve on it's own, if affeted by external factors could result in narrowmindedness"
im sorry...it's just my oppinion, it's subject to so many arguments it wont stand a chance, but all the same....im just saying one must guide a child neutrally, and never encourage hate.
as for the spider matter....well, women are unpredictable, let's just hope this doesn't promote cannibalism in some feminists

[Edited on 29-10-2003 by Cyrus]

K_OS,

This does not appear to be racism at all. I think you have confused the idea. This simple seems like a method of selection, not uncommon in all animals. Typically the best looking, biggest, strongest, etc... get the first chance to mate...others are simply bread out.

To your main question. I doubt very much that people are born racist. I do believe they have an affinity toward their own race, but this does not lead to negative tendencies toward the other. I think the destructive element of racism is taught, usually by parents.

It sounds like normal evolutionary behaviour, the female want to share her genes only with a 'good' partner and not with one thats doesnt look fit to her. Thats why male birds look so nice for instance

I'll keep that in mind the next time I try to mate with a better looking woman,,,Maybe I'll feed her first!!!

I have it on good authority(Colonel) that spiders are all Repugnants!!!

I am going with Fury on this.


Perhaps the strange looking spiders how lesser genes.

After all a spider is concerned with the survival of it's species.

The only part that I didn't understand was that the female spiders with the black legs would kill the ones with brown legs and the female spiders with the brown legs would kill the males with the black legs.

There are no difference in their size, abilities, etc... the only difference was the color of their legs??? hmmmm,


P.S. They were capable of breeding with the other they just most of the time didn't, unless they were raised with the other color around them more than their own color.
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Be Cool
K_OS

Perhaps thats how they identify other spiders is by leg color and shape, texture.


Perhaps they thought of it as a threat since they weren't use to them?

The whole survival game

All the ugly male spider has to do is get her good and drunk.

Originally posted by Fry2
I have it on good authority(Colonel) that spiders are all Repugnants!!!

im a liberal....
this certain type of spider was bred to act immorally.
repugnants regardless how they were bred, were inclined to act immorally out of freewill....nature had nothing to do with this.
see a link?

squish em all!!!!!! Just kiddin',,,I can't stand em,,,okay,,,I'm really afraid of them, but I think they are the coolest to watch!!! As far as the legs thing,,,anything is possible!!!! Would this make Peter Parker a racist???

I think that people have this debate backwards in the first place.

Why do races exist in the first place?

If we all interbred then there would only be one race in time.

Is that a good thing?

What is racism when you distill it to its finest elements?

The desire of a race to protect itself?

Sorry but I tire of the academic pap pumped into people's brains these days via the media and the education system which by the way are run by the elites.

You know those same people that GW Bush takes orders from?

I think that they become racist, but are not born racist. Its something that they learn how to do.

-Dagger

Maybe these male spiders they dont eat are the descendants of those fossilized spiders that have huge cocks 2/3 the length of thier bodies!

Anyway, I believe racism is natural and something we are born with, it is something that gets conditioned out of us in civilization.

Go back to ancient times, and before civilization, and the uncivilized people kileld persons from other tribes or lands that looked different. It is only upon the creation of civilization that racism slowly began to get bred out or conditioned out. But its a side effect of natural selection. Animals look for others who are similar to them to breed with. In thw wild, they have found that even lions will prefer lions similarly colored to them.

Its natrual like the killing insticnt, the insitinct for violence, and greed. Thery are all natural human tendancies we are born with that get shut out and redirected or supressed or conditioned out, because it is necessary for civilization itself. We cant really be ruled by our animal instincts in civilizaqed society, we must bring them at least under reign and under control.

Theres many cases of people,m who upon for the first time meeting people of another race, without prtevious contact, that have negative reactions to the people of other race. In afirca, for imnstance, the natives there thought white people were demons and scary, because of thier odd coloring and the fact they hid thier bodies under clothing. This is just one example tho, there are many more.

I agree with most of what you say Skadi. Though, I believe that society is the function that instills greed. Surely, plasma T.V.s, money and power through government were all created by society. Since these are the things society created, and we desire them then society indirectly created these desires.

In nature, natural selection would tend to be more favorable to those that take what they need and then shared the rest with others. Such a thing would act on the human act of gratitude and prescribe one with a better chance of finding a mate.

On the other hand, less social animals find mates through being stronger and that depends on their ability to gather food to build strength.

We are in the social grouping and would tend to more giving.

Generally, youre right, Man with the plan, although humans are a combintion of lone animals and social ones. We have herd and troupe humans, and we have hunter and stalker humans. Even in social animals, greed happens, its a natural instinct. Humans have mroe forsight and awareness, thus, our instincts to over accumulate things for survival and plasure are elevated. Most humans do benefit from sical sharing and help, tho humans actually, are nor loosly social animals, but family animals, even in tribal communities, bands of people are basically a family, all related, cousins, aunts, uncles, mom, dad, ect, they meet with other small bands of humans and trade mates and stuff. We are very family predjudiced.

I still have images in my head of racist spiders....

I can see it now: blackwidows evolving to where the red hourglass develops into a red swastika on thier bodies....

Im seeing little black sopiders with red swazis lurking in woodpiles looking to kill any spider that aint like them...nazi spiders, lol. If i go to bed and find a friggin daddy long legs with a ku klux klan hood on, I am running for the hills!