Hobbies And Interests

Moist Climate Spiders

Spiders survive--and even thrive--in almost every climate, from arid deserts to the humid tropics. Moist climate spiders are generally found in tropical and sub-tropical areas, including Central and South America, the Pacific islands, central Africa, the Australian rainforest, and southeast Asia. The tropical orb-weaver spider, jumping spider, and several species of tarantula are all commonly-known moist climate spiders.
  1. Diet

    • Moist climate spider species vary greatly in size, and their diets vary accordingly. While the smallest--such as the orb-weaver and jumping spiders--will often trap and devour insects (and sometimes other spiders), the larger spiders may capture small vertibrates, such as lizards, skinks, and birds. Not all moist climate spiders employ nets to catch their meals; some are proficient stalkers and ambushers.

    Shelter

    • Many moist climate spiders weave webs in the shelter of overhanging plant life, which serves as their protection from the elements. Others, such as banana spiders, shelter deeply between plant leaves, and leave that shelter to actively hunt and stalk prey. Some varieties of tarantula--the opportunistic species--by contrast, will dig burrows or construct shelter of found materials.

    Behavior

    • Moist climate spider behavior is categorized into denning, hunting, and feeding behaviors. Denning comprises the web or shelter-building activity of a spider, and often takes a significant amount of a spider's time, as environmental conditions can easily and quickly compromise webs and burrows. Hunting behavior varies sharply between web-building and stalking spiders, and is therefore considered either active--in which the spider hunts its prey--or passive--in which the spider waits for prey to be snared in its web. Feeding is nearly universal between all spiders, and can likewise take a great deal of a spider's time and energy. Prey is typically wrapped in a silk cocoon and injected with a mixture of gastric acids which liquefy its insides for easy consumption by the spider.

    Breeding

    • Different spider species have a wide array of varying breeding behaviors, which include courtship rituals, mate selection, the act of breeding, and then any care provided to the resulting egg sac and juvenile spiders. Courtship rituals are often comprised of complicated leg and body movements, sometimes accompanied by various vocalizations. Interestingly, many spider species display marked protectiveness of their unborn offspring, and several species will carry their eggsack on their back and defend it from predators or other aggressors.


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