Will Spiders Take Over the World?
WouterSpiders are among the most abundant creatures on the planet. They live in almost every terrestrial region on Earth. They also are one of the most common predators of insects. In fact, biologists estimate that spiders consume 400 to 800 million tons of prey each year.
This translates to as much meat as 7 billion humans. If they ate every human on the planet, they would weigh over 25 million tons. That would be more than the mass of the Titanic.
Researchers have estimated that a human with a 200-pound frame could eat 20 pounds of meat per day. The total biomass of all humans on the planet is estimated at 287 million tons.
A recent study published in the Washington Post’s Wonkblog estimates that if the world’s population of 200 million people were all able to eat their weight in meat, they could eat enough to satiate all of the spiders on the planet. To get this amount of food, two-fifty thousand Millennium Falcon starships would need to be flying overhead.
While it’s unlikely that spiders will take over the world, they do eat an enormous amount of food. Spiders consume about 10 percent of their body weight in food each day. Depending on their habitat, they can also feed on bats, birds, frogs, and lizards.
There are at least 45,000 species of spiders on Earth. Some are nocturnal while others hunt in litter and soil habitats.
Forest spiders are less disturbed than agricultural or urban spiders. Forest spiders also eat many grassland pest species and honey bees.
