Smart Spider Builds Fake Spiders

Originally posted by Akragon
reply to post by Lonewulph

 

Meh... i don't care about spiders....
But
That Dog in your Avatar is gorgeous!

Thanks Akragon, resembles my dear friend and companion of about 10 years ago, we weathered many a storm together...I miss him dearly.

reply to post by Wide-Eyes

I detest the arachnid. I've wrestled alligators, fought wild animals and wrangled rattle snakes...
But, I simply shutter at even a still image of a large spider,...I'm just relieved they don't get as big as a dog.

The idea of this is terrifying! So glad you posted, though. When I read that, I immediatley wondered if it was making a companion. If spiders know what spiders look like, they have to have some sort of intelligence, right?

interesting information wow !!
2end

Amazing!
I believe all creatures have a thought process & some degree of self-awareness.

S&F

Originally posted by tg_spider
interesting information

wow !!
2end

Thanks, ....your avatar is staring at me.

Originally posted by Pirateninjah
The idea of this is terrifying! So glad you posted, though. When I read that, I immediatley wondered if it was making a companion. If spiders know what spiders look like, they have to have some sort of intelligence, right?

edit on 19-12-2012 by Pirateninjah because: grammar

Interesting perspective...
This type of spider must know what it looks like...

How do they mirror themselves without a mirror

reply to post by Lonewulph


Must be a cousin to Charlotte...of Charlotte's Web:

Originally posted by trysts
reply to post by Lonewulph

 

It still makes no sense to me. While it's working on it's web creating the "decoy" it would be in danger from birds, rodents, and other insects anyway. I just think it's the less likely explanation than merely reinforcing the web.

Ok lets say you eat spiders. you're out hunting and you see a nice little spider to snack on, then all of a sudden the light catches another spider close by,a bigger spider, you're hungry so your going to go after the bigger more filling spider. therefor saving the life of the smaller spider.

Its all about survival.

Love and harmony
Whateva

Originally posted by Skywatcher2011
reply to post by Lonewulph

 

Must be a cousin to Charlotte...of Charlotte's Web:

Nice, I didn't even think of that one.

IMO, what it means is that this spider knows/senses/is programmed to know that it has a predator out to get it, so, it builds these decoys to get it off it's trail. Nature never ceases to amze me. This spider knew to make eight legs? That's incredible in itself.

Originally posted by Whateva69

Originally posted by trysts
reply to post by Lonewulph

 

It still makes no sense to me. While it's working on it's web creating the "decoy" it would be in danger from birds, rodents, and other insects anyway. I just think it's the less likely explanation than merely reinforcing the web.

Ok lets say you eat spiders. you're out hunting and you see a nice little spider to snack on, then all of a sudden the light catches another spider close by,a bigger spider, you're hungry so your going to go after the bigger more filling spider. therefor saving the life of the smaller spider.

Its all about survival.

Love and harmony
Whateva

I didn't mean to make it sound like I didn't know what a decoy is, or how it can be applied to the spider webs being researched. It's merely my opinion on the matter of the spider consciously making a decoy. I believe the spider is intelligent, therefore I don't think the spider would risk it's life in creating a decoy, because the making of the alleged decoy would put the spider in danger anyway. It would make predators more aware of a spider in the vicinity if it is doubly advertised. Sorry, but it makes no sense to me.

reply to post by trysts


Ok, let's imagine you're a bird. Let's say you're a Sparrow. Now, Sparrows know where to find spiders e.g Alcoves, carports, car wing mirrors (yes, I have seen sparrows checking car wing mirrors for spiders), bushes etc.

So let's say you (the sparrow), land on a car wing mirror, you see a web with a spider in it so you think ''yum'', spider for lunch. However, when you go to eat the spider it tastes of death and leaves a nasty taste in your mouth...

Now, with your Sparrow brain, what would your instinct be? Would it be A: ''ZOMG, that tasted like sh*t, I need to go and puke!''?

Or would it be B: ''Ohhh, a decoy huh? Why didn't I see that one coming? Now where's the REAL spider?''. With your theoretical Sparrow brain.

reply to post by Wide-Eyes


Okay, with my theoretical sparrow brain, I would probably think, "Well there must be a spider around here since this huge advertisement of "spider" is right in front of me".

reply to post by trysts


Would that be before or after you eat the big crusty replica from hell?

reply to post by trysts


Good reply btw.

Originally posted by Parksie
I wonder if the decoy is poisonous too, built with toxic leafs and insects.

edit on 19-12-2012 by Parksie because: (no reason given)

Okay, that level of intelligence would give me a creepy feeling from my hair to my toes. The fact this thing is self aware to this degree is already surprising. I guess it's range of vision is more than I would have thought. I thought by physical arrangement that they were somewhat limited in forward looking. This is almost like it's seen it;s reflection at some point...but this is common to the species?

Well... I guess that answers things. I've heard people say that only high order mammals are self aware. Some even suggest only humans are. I figured the line fell somewhere far lower, but maybe there is no line at all?

Hmmm... Food for thought.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


Creepy indeed.

In an earlier reply I asked, "how does one mirror itself, without a mirror?"

Interesting you made the same observation, how could one be instinctively self aware?
I need to do a bit of research and see what other animals, if not any other arachnid, can build a decoy.

Truly astonishing, it never ceases to amaze me as to what good 'aul mother nature will come up with. I love how so many different species have, to their own degree/level, something similar to what we call thought!

reply to post by Lonewulph



Lonewulph, your doggie avatar reminds me of my dear missed friend and life companion, Samba...a mut from Spain who went through thick and thin to protect and love me for 16 years...as I cared for and loved her the same way and same amount of time.

About this spider's antics to protect herself...

I walked many a mile in the Spanish countryside with Samba, while communing with the fauna and flora of that land, lost in thought about why a stick-insect knows how to immitate the twig that it lives on, and look just like it, without ever seeing itself from another point of view, outside of itself...?

I think that I found a preliminary answer to that.

Intelligence is a basic organic essence that prevails in all things that are radiating.
Radiation is an outlet of gravity, where all information of the cosmos is stored.
Radiation imparts Intelligence, from the cosmic memory of gravity.
There are only two ways for the fundamental essence of the Cosmos to go: either downwards/inwards towards Gravity, or upwards/outwards towards Radiation.

The Essential Intelligence of the Cosmos is imparted into everything that exists in Life.
All living forms have the capacity to utilize that Intelligence for their individual species' survival.
The manner in which each species uses this Intelligence is unique to that species, but it is also available to all others in their own way.

Each essential lifeform is 'aware' of its own vibrational level, on the electromagnetic spectrum; it also knows how to harness higher vibrational energies, in order to enhance its own species' survival, by correcting a flaw in their survivability that didn't work too well before. (Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest).

During my walks, I was always questioning...how does each species know how to manifest themselves at their optimum, for their own survival? Why was this flower yellow and the othere one blue or red?
How does a deep sea fish know how to transform its colors according to the background in which it is "seen by other entities"?...How is this critter able to ascertain how it is perceived from the outside?

Is it a question of trial and error, thoughout the years of its species survival?
If so, who/what was keeping count of the species survival? And who/what was making the adjustments?

In my assessment, I see all of these entities of life as having a sensory connecting thread to the electromagnetic field that correlates all things of the cosmos...that which the Human has lost touch with, sensorially...
That's why this kind of critter trickery is so foreign to us!!!

We have lost touch with our sensorial connection to the Cosmos.