How Many Spiders Do We Eat in a Lifetime?
WouterHow many spiders does the average human consume in a lifetime? The answer to that question is not an easy one. Despite what you may think, the odds are actually fairly small.
In fact, the gimmick is a bit of a stretch. Researchers looked at the number of spiders per square meter of land and the amount of food consumed by different sized spiders. After crunching the numbers, they determined the number of spiders would be about as large as the US population.
For the sake of simplicity, let’s just assume that a 200 pound human can consume a mere 20 pounds of spider meat a day. That would put the total weight of humans on earth at approximately 287 million tons. This figure doesn’t include kids and other animals, whose weight adds another 70 million tots.
A spider’s voraciousness means fewer mosquitoes and flies around the house, which is good for everyone. Additionally, if we were to consume a spider, we’d be swallowing a mini-me that could potentially have killed us.
Although there is no solid evidence of this, the urban legend holds true. Some people have reported swallowing spiders in their sleep. Others have accidentally eaten them.
It’s a fact that spiders can sense the motions of their prey, but this does not mean that they will linger in your mouth for long. Fortunately, most of them will simply crawl out.
Unlike the Titanic, spiders are unlikely to invade your bedside table.
