Did you know little Ms Muffet sat on her tuffet eating her curds and whey? Along came a great spider and sat down beside her and frightened Ms Muffet away. Sci-Fi writers, take note. Never before had a great spider jumped on Ms Muffet. It had only been a small spider, and it was friendly like the red one below.
Webs allow a spider to catch prey without having to expend energy by running it down. Thus it is an efficient method of gathering food. However, constructing the web is in itself an energetically costly process because of the large amount of protein required, in the form of silk. In addition, after a time the silk will lose its stickiness and thus become inefficient at capturing prey. It is common for spiders to eat their own web daily to recoup some of the energy used in spinning. The silk proteins are thus recycled.
The tensile strength of spider silk is greater than the same weight of steel and has much greater elasticity. Its microstructure is under investigation for potential applications in industry, including bullet-proof vests and artificial tendons. Researchers have used genetically modified mammals to produce the proteins needed to make this material.
Ms Muffet’s spider.
What web are you caught up in lately?
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www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5aywHM9KMMJul 15, 2008 – 2 min – Uploaded by musicfactorymusic
http://www.kidsstuffandthings.com Little Miss Muffet Children’s Animation. |
Gail, Thanks again for a very interesting and informative blog. Spiders are creepy to me but I’m, at the same time, fascinated at their creation of beautiful art work. I live on the shores of one of the NYS Finger Lakes and the spiders are busy little beavers due to the water. Sometimes it’s a challenge to remove the webs off the sides of the docks–I;m sure the little buggers are fit to be tied when I remove their webs–but it has to be done.
While writing my 2012 debut Historical Romance, Only When the Loon Sings, I had my heroine thoroughly clean the log cabin. I’d found out a little historical tidbit regarding the use of using spider webs to help clot blood of a wound and had my hero point out to her that she might like to save a few webs for an emergency. I hadn’t known that fact before writing the book and found it very interesting and useful. So now I have greater respect for the leggy creatures. Of course I still watch out for the Recluse spider–it’s a nasty one to us humans. and of course there’s always the Tarancula. Yikes! Glad I live in NYS.
Beverly, thank you for your comments. I did not know that handy blood clotting first aid ditty. Reminds me of the use of mud for a bee/hornet sting. Spiders are fascinating creatures, and it seems we have all had run-in’s with one or two or three. You can keep the tarantula ones. The ordinary spiders are scary enough. Watching them spin their silky steel houses is amazing. The red one in my blog was my personal spider on my porch. I watched . . . Thanks again.
I never ever kill a spider, they get rid of all the pest. Like PJ I’ve spent hours watching them spin their webs. It’s so cool.
Marian, thanks. I don’t think I “never” killed a spider. They are so creepy. But these are harmless. The ones you find in the tropics, well, that’s another story. The red one on my blog is one that I watched spinning on my porch.
I love learning new stuff, Gail! And your posts are always so informative.
I have a love/hate relationship with spiders. I was terrified of them as a child, but since becoming a gardener have learned to co-exist with them by appreciating their purpose in the eco-system and their amazing aptitude for being industrious. I’ve sat for hours and watched a spider patiently construct a web and then sit motionless for countless more hours waiting for its reward. Humans could learn much from the arachnid world:-)
Paula, thank you for your intellectual response and encouragement. That red spider captured me. I watched it spin and hang out, right off my porch. I have a black one from another day as well. Fascinating creatures, they are.