Spiders and Humans

I know many of my readers will have a hard time with this one, but recent research suggests that humans and spiders may have something in common, and it just might be one of the last things that you expected. It appears that male spiders, when preparing to mate, bring the female a gift. Now of course, in our society we consider this to be par for the course, unless of course the gift is cash. Then it is illegal in most jurisdictions. But the study revealed something that I found to be even more interesting.

In the wild, previous research has found that about 62 percent of gifts from male nursery web spiders contained fresh prey, while the rest, 38 percent, contained empty insect husks. "Since the chances to obtain a mating without gift are very low, males are under strong pressures to offer something, and they decide to wrap any item in silk, no matter the nutritive value, just to obtain a successful mating," Albo said.

It appears that even spiders aren't above the occasional fake Gucci bag or a cubic zirconia. But there is another trick guys could learn from the male spider here.

Another trick? If not satiated, males play dead until the female thinks she has gotten away, and then he wakes up and grabs her for another go.

Although that too may be illegal in several jurisdictions. Check your local laws and ordinances before trying that one.