On a scale of one to ten, how much do you love spiders? A 1 meaning 'I am absolutely terrified of the 8-legged creatures' and a 10 being 'I want to pull an Ant-Man and fly on one'. Personally, I would say I am more of a 5. If I am outside then I'm a 10 even though I don't see many of them. If I'm inside the house, I'm a 1 because if there is any bug inside the house, I kill it. But enough about how we feel about spiders, let's actually learn about them. Not only will we learn about their physical properties and capabilities, but we will also learn about how they are perceived across different cultures.
First, we have to clear up what we think we know about spiders. Some of you probably already know more about spiders than me, but some of what I thought I knew, turns out to be false. I always thought that every spider made a spider web, but in fact that is not true. According to Rod Crawford, every spider makes silk, but not every spider weaves their silk into a web in order to trap their prey. Some of the species of spiders that do not make webs are crab spiders and trap door spiders. In fact, about half of the total number of species of spider do not spin webs. Crazy right, but I'm pretty sure half of you already knew that.
Furthermore, like many insect eating creatures, spiders are good for plant life because they eat many of the plant eating insects. Interestingly enough, they do not damage the plants while they are eating the insects and using the different crop fields as their habitat. As the Journal of Food, Agriculture, and Environment states, 'The use of biopesticides, botanicals, and organic manure will enhance the spider population in different ecosystems'. Not only do the spiders help the crops, but the crops help the spiders. This is especially true in Asia where all the pests significantly reduce the yield of rice crops which are important for the economy and food supply of Asia. In a way, the spiders and plants have a symbiotic relationship.
A spider's silk is also really useful, specifically to the medical field. While the spiders use their silk for the purpose of catching their prey, their silk can also be used for tissue engineering. Remember those movies where the person can't make it to a hospital and they use balled up spider webs for medical purposes? Well, there is an actually good reason for that. As the journal Molecules says, 'Due to its properties, such as biodegradability, low density, excellent biocompatibility and unique mechanics, spider silk has been used as a natural biomaterial for a myriad of applications'. Not only is spider silk used for medical purposes today, but it was used all throughout time. For example, the Greeks and Romans used spider silk in order to do stop the bleeding of the different wounds inflicted in battle.
Besides the physical importance and aspects of a spider, what is even more interesting is how the spiders are portrayed in different cultures. For those of us who have read the Heroes of Olympus, we know how the Greeks associate spiders with the art of weaving through Arachne. For others who have not, there was a woman named Arachne that was studying tapestry weaving underneath the Greek goddess Athena and one time she bolstered that her weaving was much better than Athena' s. They held a contest to see who was better and because of how Arachne depicted the gods in a bad light, her work was destroyed. Arachne committed suicide and then because Athena, thought that she had learned her lesson, she was brought back to life as a spider. In the book, her work was described as being quite impressive and although Athena is seen as the best weaver, since Arachne could possibly be better, it makes sense why the Greeks would associate weaving with Arachne which in turn associates it with spiders. There are other cultures with different beliefs out there as well.
In journal article, The Spider and the American Indian, 'the spider is given a prominent place in reverence and belief'. The Native Americans associate spiders with the creation story where some tribes believe that it is either the creator, the first creature, or assistant. The Canadian Dakota told a story about how the spider claimed that it was the first creature and the evidence used was that it was able to survive and live on water and on land. Stories vary among different tribes, but they mention spiders in general myth about protecting the innocent and helping shape the world. The Native Americans also believe that spiders help with medicine like is used among other cultures, and that the spider has artistic talents and is a symbol of weaving. What is amazing is that while spiders are often portrayed as dangerous and harmful, many different cultures associate them with good omens and helping leaders. Many stories describe an important figure hiding in a cave and then a spider will build a web in front of the entrance and then when people would come looking, they would pass by because if the web was undisturbed, nobody could be hiding in there. Ancient India believed that a spider created the universe and would some day devour it, building a new one in its place.
Just like everything else, people will believe what they will about spiders, but some things are pretty common among multiple beliefs like how spiders are associated with weaving and that they can help heal people. I didn't realize there were so many ways that spiders were depicted. I am happy to say that I learned many things about spiders, did you?
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