Discover 10 Wild, Crazy, and Adorable Facts About Jumping Spiders
Normally, the assumptions about jumping spiders are not so good, but I am one of those whose affection toward these tiny arachnids sets me apart. I love to keep the Salticidae spiders as my pets and can’t express the joy I experience while placing these tiny and fuzzy animals in my hands. My words can’t capture the relaxation that I feel while interacting and sharing my feelings with the waves of their front legs.
As a jumping spider enthusiast, l am eager to unveil the amazing facts about these well-behaved creatures and highlight their crucial role in the ecosystem. Once you discover the fantastic insights, you must want to have a spider companion as well.
1. World Largest Spider Family
The Salticidae is the biggest family of jumping spiders, with over 6000 different types, including both living and fossil species. Only in the U.S. and Canada, there are more than 300 varieties can be found, making up about 13% of all known spider species. It makes Salticidae the largest spider family in the world, showcasing their remarkable diversity in colors, shapes, and sizes. Despite their abundance, the good news is that none of them pose a threat to humans, making them fascinating members of the arachnid world without any dangerous implications.
2. They have a global presence
Jumping spiders have a global presence; they can be found all over the world, except in really cold places like the Arctic and Antarctica. From hot tropical places to cooler ones, they live in different kinds of areas. In 1975, a researcher even found jumping spiders on Mount Everest! These spiders can also be found in human homes, where they help by keeping other pests under control. So, whether you’re in a rainforest, a desert, or at home, you might meet jumping spiders almost everywhere.
3. Incredible Hunting Skills
Just like Spidey, spiders are amazing hunters because of their super senses. These jumpers have four eyes to focus on their prey, and they use image-defocus tricks to see things clearly in 3D. Their top two eyes are ultraviolet-sensitive, and the bottom two are green-sensitive; this makes the jumping spiders great at hunting.
And maybe you can’t believe that most of the jumping spiders don’t use webs to hunt their prey. They use their sharp eyesight to catch it.
4. They Don’t have Super Strong Legs
Do you think that these tiny marvels have super strong legs just because they jump up to 50 times their body length? No, that’s not the case. Jumping spiders use their segmented legs and blood flow to pull their incredible jumps. When they are ready to jump, they tighten their muscles to the upper part of their body, causing a big change in the blood pressure that forces the blood to rush into their legs and it helps the spiders to shoot out quickly. The sudden extension in their legs sends them in the direction where they are aiming.
5. Vibrant Mating Displays
Jumping Spiders come in various colors and patterns. Generally, they have brown, gray, and black stone colors, but surprisingly, some of them are vibrant in blue and red colors. The reason for the display of colors is to attract a mate.
The Maratus and Habronattus species stand out for their bright hues and intricate mating displays. During these displays, they lift two legs in the air and dance around.
An interesting fact is that these spiders can see more vivid colors than humans. An old study says that Habronattus jumping spiders might achieve greater color vision by adjusting the sensitivity of some photoreceptors from green to red.
In simple terms, the spiders have a built-in filter in their eyes that lets them experience a wide range of colors and UV rays.
6. Masters of Mimicry
Meet the Myrmarachne melanocephala, commonly known as ant-mimicking spiders. These jumping spiders are experts at pretending to be ants, fooling both predators and prey.
They are not like other typical jumping spiders; they are longer and have a narrow false waist, giving them an ant-like appearance. These clever spiders can even mimic the colors of different ant species. To enhance their disguise, they wave two of their legs around like antennae, blending in seamlessly with their surroundings.
7. Hear without Ears
Despite the lack of traditional ears, jumping spiders have amazing hearing skills. They detect the vibrations of sound waves by sensory hairs on their body that send the signals to the brain, allowing them to sense sounds even from 10 feet away. The researchers accidentally got this discovered in 2016 while studying spider eyes. They were actually demonstrating that vibrations could activate the spider’s neurons and got this discovered. It led them to conclude that spiders can essentially “feel” sound waves.
8. Males Sing and Dance to Impress Mates
In the spider world, especially among jumping spiders, male spiders use their keen senses not only for hunting and keeping themselves safe from other spiders but also for finding mates. They don’t only rely on their physical appearance to woo their mates, but they also use other unique ways like dancing, singing their special songs, and communicating through buzzes, scrapes, clicks, and tapes to capture their mate’s attention. These signals traveled through the ground to the nearby female spiders, which they detected by sensory hairs on their body. If a female is impressed, she will come for a mate, and if not, maybe she will end up eating the male spider.
9. Command Responsive Jumpers
Scientists at Manchester University trained regal spider Kim (jumping spider nickname) to jump on commands to learn more about their jumping techniques. Kim proffered shorter and lower jumps from shorter distances. Although they use more energy, it leads to shorter flight times and increases the chances of catching prey. It helps the researchers to increase the jumping abilities of tiny robots.
10. Efficient Spider Reproduction
After mating with male spiders, female spiders take reproduction seriously, and it lays almost 125 eggs in a single batch. After the eggs hatch, the tiny spiderlings stay in their nests for around a month. After that, they come out and explore the atmosphere.