Spiders

Spiders are arachnids. They have two parts to their bodies, its cephalothorax which is at the front of their bodies and its abdomen which is at the end.

Spiders are invertebrates and have an exoskeleton to protect their body. They have eight legs which are attached to the thorax. Most spiders have four pairs of eyes but they actually can’t see very well using them. Spiders don’t have antennae like insects do. They do however have fangs, which they use to help them catch their prey.

There are thousands of species of spiders around the world. The different species can look very different to each other. Some are so tiny you can hardly see them, some have very long legs, some are hairy and some are bigger than your hand. Spiders come in many colours, although most are a black or brown colour.

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Most spiders create webs to help them catch their prey, although some species eat far bigger prey than can be caught in a web. They lay in wait for them instead, pouncing on them when they get near enough.

A lot of spiders eat insects so a web works perfectly for them. Their webs are made out of silk. A spider creates a new web practically every day and each web takes them about an hour to create. Once something has got caught in the web the spiders act quickly to trap their prey further in more silk and then some species inject the prey with venom using their fangs.

Spider’s use their venom to kill their prey or to stop them being able to move, making them easier to eat. This venom usually doesn’t harm humans at all. In the UK there are no venomous spiders that could seriously hurt a human.

Spiders are born out of eggs. Most spiders will create a little pouch out of silk to put the eggs in until they hatch. Some spiders carry this pouch around with them and some attach it to a web or create a little nest for it, out of even more silk. Once the baby spiders, called spiderlings, hatch most of them go off on their own. Some species of spider care for the young for a short time.

Most spiders live for about a year or even less. Some of the bigger species of spider can live longer. Female spiders live a lot longer than male spiders.

Can you believe it?

Most spiders can't eat their prey whole and instead inject chemicals into it which turns their insides into a liquid so they can then suck it up like a drink!