Spiders are terrifying. This is science fact.
Jumping spiders crank things up a notch because, Jesus Christ man, they can jump.
Now there’s more bad news: jumping spiders just got scarier.
Actually most likely all spiders just got scarier.
Okay, here’s the deal: until now it was understood that jumping spiders could only respond to sight and touch. Basically we believed spiders couldn’t technically hear the way we hear. According to Gil Menda from Cornell University, we used to believe that spiders were only aware of “airborne vibrations from nearby sources”, giving them a perceptual range of a few centimetres.
Yeah, now that’s all out of the window.
Bad new people. Spiders can hear shit now. Well, jumping spiders at least. But these new findings have implications for all spiders. It’s very possible that many spider species can hear you coming.
What does that mean for you or I? Well it means that a spiders ability to ‘sense’ us has increased from a few centimetres to three metres.
Basically we’re all fucked. Actually, we were always fucked. At least now we’re aware of how fucked we are.
The whole spiders-can-hear-now thing was tested with jumping spiders via this study. Scientists were able to measure responses by clapping at distance and measuring the neurons firing in spiders’ brains.
And the whole thing is pretty incredible really. Spiders aren’t exactly blessed in the brains department. They have small brains, which is what makes this discovery all the more compelling.
So yeah, spiders are even worse now. Have a nice day.