Spiders.

In Autumn a male house spider faces the most important and dangerous journey of his life. His mission is to seek out a female spider. But to reach her he may have to risk his own life. For the past year he has lived on his web, its an architectural wonder. On tip toes, feathery hairs on his feet stop him from sinking through the web. But a flat footed fly will some become entangled once he has flown into the web. Once the fly in on the web the spider will pick up the vibrations with the sensitive hairs on his body, he then strikes. Venom injected by needle like fangs quickly subdues his prey. Powerful jaws and digestive enzymes soon break down the fly. This will be the spiders last supper, autumn has arrived and the urge to mate has become overwhelming. When the time is right he leaves the safety of his web. Now he must venture into an unknown land where a female house spider awaits. Out in the open the spider is exposed to predators like great tits. When he gets to the house, he`s confronted with a weird landscape.  A world away from his wooden shed and his web. He has to climb a huge wooden mountain,  a staircase. Its a long way up, but he can grip onto all of the cracks and crevices on the staircase. Just like us spiders need to drink so he is drawn towards the water in the bathroom. Into danger, if he falls into the water he could drown if he can`t get out. The water surface tension will keep him afloat for a while. Our baths and sinks are death traps to spiders, but a flannel makes it easier for spiders to get out safely. His hairs on his body and his exoskeleton do repel water, so after a good groom he will soon dry off. In a spare room a female spider has spun a web, as soon as the spider touches the web, receptors on his body sense the females pheromones, he must be careful though as she may mistake him for food. He begins a courtship dance, drumming his pelps and bobbing his ofisfoma. The female listens to the vibrations and is satisfied with the suitor. She allows him to approach, he uses his pelps to transfer his sperm. After mating he takes up residents in her web. But the danger isn`t over. A rival male may approach the web, you see the female stores sperm over the winter, she then fertilises the eggs next spring. So the first male will have to fight any intruders to make sure he is the father  of the off-spring. Each male could deliver a toxic bite, so it could be a fight to the death. But the rival spider is normally pushed away from the web. He will then return to the female spider, his mission is now complete and he won`t survive the winter. He has made sure that a new generation of his will appear next year.

Spiders and their silk.

Their are two British spiders that have fangs that can break our skin, they are the dolimerer spider or the raft spider and the house spider. Spiders venom has evolved to prey on insects, they are no harm to other spiders. Spiders evolved three hundred and fifty million years ago, one third of all creatures we know on the planet are spiders. There are six hundred and forty five in the British isles. The name spider comes from the latinised Greek for spinner, and of course spiders are famous for silk.

So why is silk so good?

Silk starts life a watery fluid deep in the body of the spider, its then passed through some microscopic tubes that then remove the water and turn this complex of protein and amino acids into silk. It contains lots of hydrogen bonds, this is what makes it so strong. It then passes through the body until it gets to some muscular valves called spigots. It is then extruded from these and twisted into a cable by what are called the spinnerets, which is a tiny little organ on the backside of the spider.

There are seven different types of silk,

1,Egg sack silk- This is the silk the spider uses to wraps its eggs in.
2,Swathing silk- This is the silk the spider uses to wrap its prey in.
3,Dragline silk- This is the strongest of all the silks, the spider uses it to hang on.
4,Attaching silk- They hang this to any sub-straight.
5,Non sticky silk.
6,Sticky silk.
7,Sticky stuff- This is what makes the sticky stuff stick.

The silk is a incredibly thin fibre that's thinner than human hair. But it`s five times stronger than steel, and is almost as strong as the strongest man made substance-Kevlar-This is used for bullet proof vests. So have a think about how strong silk is the next time you walk into some in your garden.