How Are Cobwebs Made?

Silk Production

• The silk that spiders produce is stronger in tension than steel by weight, and significantly more flexible than steel. Spider silk is produced in the abdomen of the spider as a liquid. This liquid is then excreted in small droplets from the spinneret on the back of the spider's abdomen. Some spiders have multiple spinnerets, which are capable of producing silks of varying thickness and adhesive strength.

Cobweb Construction

• Each spider species has a different method of spinning a web. However, the most prominent method involves the spider fixing a dot of silk to a surface, then leaping to a slightly lower point on a nearby surface. This forms the first strand of the web, which the spider may then crawl across to lay a loose drooping strand of silk that creates the triangular center of a cobweb. From there, the spider will construct multiple spokes, like on a bicycle wheel, and will then weave a spiraling pattern of silk around the web to complete the construction.

Communal Cobwebs

• Not all webs are the work of a single spider. Like a communal knitting project, some spiders group together to construct vast webs, some reaching as large as 6 feet across. The spiders then share the plentiful bounty, sometimes including small birds and bats, trapped in their massive webs.

Maintenance

• Sometimes a cobweb may break or catch a leaf or a victim that the spider is none too keen to try to eat. If the spider finds that its web is broken, then it will consume the loose-hanging bits of the web to recycle the material, and begin spinning replacement strands. If a potential predator or some other object lands in the web, then the spider will cut the strands that hold it in place until it falls safely away from the web and will then begin making repairs.