How Do Spiders Work Together?

There are many species of spiders that have social tendencies. They work together to hunt and feed. They form colonies that can stay in one spot for months or years. They share harvests, work on webs, and communicate with each other.

There are some spiders that are more aggressive than others. These include the funnel web weavers and the low-jawed orb weavers. These are the type of spiders that can take down large insects.

Social spiders are usually docile. They may help care for young spiders or build a new nest. However, they do not have a caste system.

Colonies are generally characterized by the size of the spiders. The larger the colony, the more prey the group can capture.

A large social spider colony has been documented killing birds and bats. These colonies can range from tens of thousands of individuals to a couple of thousand.

The spiders can sense vibrations from the prey, which allows them to attack in concert. Their home range extends from 0.0001 to a thousand meters cubed. The web spans twenty feet or more.

Researchers have been studying the relationships between social spiders and their predators. The spiders are self-organizing, meaning they can adapt and change their behavior to meet the needs of their surroundings.

The social spiders are able to thrive in tropical areas where the temperature is high. Some foreign animals use these colonies as a shelter.

The researchers think the colony came together in a perfect storm of weather conditions. They believe that the spiders were triggered to come together because they were surrounded by many small insects.