How Do Spiders Lose Weight?
WouterIf you were to eat a spider, you would get enough meat to make a meal. Spiders are food for a lot of predators. They are important in ecosystems. They eat insects, bats, snakes, and lizards. They also hydrate themselves with water droplets.
Scientists estimate that spiders consume between 400 million and 800 million tons of biomass annually. This is more than the total weight of all adults on Earth. They also eat more meat than humans do. This equates to about 7 billion pounds.
They can snag prey 50 times heavier than themselves. They have eight legs and simple eyes. They also have narrow guts and lack mandibles. They do not bite unless threatened. They are considered a natural part of the food chain.
Researchers found that male spiders that have only one palp perform significantly better than those with both palps. The lighter palps help them to move faster.
The new exoskeleton is not hardened, so it can stretch. In the first few moults, spiders can regenerate lost appendages.
When spiders were food deprived, their respiratory rates decreased. This was not due to exhaustion. Rather, it was because they had to modify their foraging. During the starvation period, the mean respiration rate was 2.52 x 10-4 mg CO2/mg f.w./hr for male spiders. The females’ rate was 63.0% of the rate before the starvation.
The study also showed that starved spiders use a higher ratio of fat as a catabolic substrate. They were able to recover to pre-starvation levels after five days of feeding.
