· Wildlife · 1 min read
On spiders
Sample post: why orb-weavers take their webs down and build them again.
Most mornings there is an orb web strung across the gap between the hibiscus and the wall. By evening it is torn, and by the next morning there is a new one in almost exactly the same place.
Orb-weavers rebuild so often because the sticky spiral wears out. Dust, wind and struggling insects tear it, and the glue on the threads dries and loses its grip.
Eating the old web
Before starting again, many orb-weavers eat the old web. Silk is protein, so recycling it gives back much of what went into spinning it.
The rebuild follows the same order every time: a bridge line across the gap first, then the frame, then the spokes out from the hub, and last the sticky spiral, laid from the outside in.
The golden orb-weavers in my garden are the exception. Their webs are strong enough to last for days, so they patch the damaged parts instead of starting from scratch.
Filed under Wildlife · Newer: Learning Three.js, week one →