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Basic Spider Facts and Information
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There are nearly 40,000 species of spiders world-wide and about 3,800 in the US.
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Spiders rarely bite people and only do so as a means of defense.
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Spiders range in size from small enough to balance comfortably on the tip of a pencil to almost 14 inches in diameter.
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The
average person will encounter some 50 different kinds of spiders in
their lifetime. Of those, only about a dozen are capable of piercing
the skin with their fangs.
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Spider Silk
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Spider
silk is the strongest natural fiber known. It’s exuded as a liquid and
hardens when the spider pulls it, thus aligning the molecular
structure. It will stretch up to 1/3 of its original length without
breaking.
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Scientists are researching spider silk as a possible replacement for Kevlar, the material used in bulletproof vests.
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It has been theorized that a spider web with strands the thickness of a pencil could stop a 747 in flight.
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Spiders
are the only creatures that can produce silk essentially from the time
they emerge from the egg sac until the day they die.
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Black widow silk was at one time used in military gun sights because of its strength and uniform thickness.
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Bridge builders have been known to study spider webs because of the webs’ remarkable ability to absorb tension.
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Spider Venom
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Virtually all spiders are venomous but only a few are what we refer to as “medically important.”
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Components
of spider venom show promise in medical research, including areas of
Alzheimer’s and Lou Gehring’s disease and even in preventing permanent
brain damage in stroke victims.
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There is no correlation between the size of the spider and the degree of venom potency.
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Strange But True
- Contrary to popular belief, the female Black Widow spider seldom devours the male after mating.
- Spiderlings
(young spiders) can travel great distancing by “ballooning” - the
process of floating on the breeze using a strand of silk.
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