Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey
Speaker 1: brain Stuff Lauren Vogelbaum here. David Nelson, now an associate
Speaker 1: professor of biology at Southern Adventist University in College Dale, Tennessee,
Speaker 1: remembers being a PhD student sprawling on his belly under
Speaker 1: the slide at the elementary school playground in search of
Speaker 1: a tangled web of the lectri dectus hesperate, otherwise known
Speaker 1: as the Western black widow spider. Hid know it when
Speaker 1: he saw it, the sticky silk threads spun in messy
Speaker 1: snarls characteristic of such wondrous creatures. If he nudged the
Speaker 1: web in just the right place with his long pair
Speaker 1: of forceps, he could catch the spider before it escaped
Speaker 1: and tuck it into one of his plastic bags where
Speaker 1: dozens of other black widows lay in wait. It didn't
Speaker 1: matter to him that one bite from the shiny black
Speaker 1: spider could send his muscles into painful spasms within minutes,
Speaker 1: that even if he went to the emergency room writhing
Speaker 1: in pain, doctors likely wouldn't have the anti venom to
Speaker 1: treat him. That would have to wait out the burning, throbbing,
Speaker 1: and involuntary muscle contractions for hours or possibly days, until
Speaker 1: the symptoms eventually subsided. Nelson wasn't concerned because he was
Speaker 1: getting to know these and I quote sexy little organisms
Speaker 1: rather well. They played a starring role in his doctoral
Speaker 1: research and he wanted to understand them better. So how
Speaker 1: did the black widow spider get its name and why
Speaker 1: does it have such a reputation. Nelson says he chose
Speaker 1: the black widow for his research because quote their mysterious
Speaker 1: and dangerous. Indeed, the black widow is technically one of
Speaker 1: the deadliest spiders in the world. About black widow bites
Speaker 1: are reported to the u S National Poison Data System
Speaker 1: each year. But its name comes not so much from
Speaker 1: the spider's ability to kill humans, but from a cannibalistic
Speaker 1: behavior noticed the species during copulation. A science collected samples
Speaker 1: of male and female black widows and stored them in
Speaker 1: the same container. When they came back to check on
Speaker 1: the spiders, they discovered that the female widows had eaten
Speaker 1: the males. This so called spider cannibalism is not too
Speaker 1: rare in the spider world in general. Nelson says it
Speaker 1: usually involves the female eating the male before during or
Speaker 1: after copulation, but it is rarely seen in black widows
Speaker 1: that inhabit North America. Black widow males in nature tend
Speaker 1: to escape quickly after copulating a luxury that they weren't
Speaker 1: afforded caged together with females in the laboratory setting. Also,
Speaker 1: research shows that black widows can sense chemicals and the
Speaker 1: female's web that indicate whether she has recently eaten. They
Speaker 1: know to avoid hungry females just in case. Black widows
Speaker 1: build their tangled cobwebs in dark, dry places, woodpiles, barns, greenhouses, basements, outhouses,
Speaker 1: in the chains, hollow stumps, under lawn furniture, in playground oquipment,
Speaker 1: and in dense vegetation. They hide during the day in
Speaker 1: tiny crevices or rodent holes, and creep out onto their
Speaker 1: webs during the night. When they do, they usually hang
Speaker 1: upside down, waiting for a fly or grasshopper to get
Speaker 1: trapped in the sticky threads of their web. When an
Speaker 1: insect gets caught, the widow quickly runs over and wraps
Speaker 1: it in silk. Then, at meal time, the spider digs
Speaker 1: its fangs into its prey, injecting the insect with digestive
Speaker 1: juices until it liquefies, and then the widow sucks up
Speaker 1: the resulting bug juice. So how can you tell when
Speaker 1: you're face to face, so to speak, with a black
Speaker 1: widow spider? Here are the identifying characteristics. Female black widow
Speaker 1: spiders are about an inch and a half or three
Speaker 1: point eight centimeters in length with long legs. Mails are
Speaker 1: about half that size. Female black widow spiders have a
Speaker 1: shiny black body with the well known hourglass shape on
Speaker 1: their abdomens in red, red, orange, or yellow. Males are
Speaker 1: lighter in color with red or pink spots, but color
Speaker 1: variations and markings vary depending on the species. Black widow
Speaker 1: spiders are generally not aggressive, though only by the person
Speaker 1: if they're touched, trapped, or sat upon. There are thirty
Speaker 1: two species of spiders in the Latrodectus genus, many of
Speaker 1: which are considered true widows. You can find black widows
Speaker 1: in every continent of the world except Antarctica. But again,
Speaker 1: black widows are not aggressive. They're shy. Even if you
Speaker 1: find one, there's no point in grabbing bug spray or
Speaker 1: swatting it dead. They won't come after you. In fact,
Speaker 1: they don't want to be around you as much as
Speaker 1: you don't want to be around them, leave them be.
Speaker 1: Nelson has found that if you pick a black widow
Speaker 1: spiders webs, they'll bolt for cover. If they can't hide,
Speaker 1: they'll play dead. If you touch them and they can't escape,
Speaker 1: they will dig their fangs into you. But interestingly, if
Speaker 1: you pull gently on one of their legs with a
Speaker 1: pair of feather light tweezers, they'll reach back into their
Speaker 1: spinneret and a sticky strand of silk your way. This
Speaker 1: defensive silk, which Nelson describes as a looking quote just
Speaker 1: like a pearl necklace, sticks to predators, drives quickly, and
Speaker 1: can afford the widow extra time to get away. He said,
Speaker 1: I know of no other spiders that actively protect themselves
Speaker 1: with silk. Plus, black widows play an important role in
Speaker 1: our ecosystem, feasting on many insects species, especially small, annoying
Speaker 1: insects like mosquitoes and flies. Bites usually occur by accident,
Speaker 1: for instance, if you stick your hand in a gardening
Speaker 1: glove and startle one that's hiding there. Females are much
Speaker 1: more likely than males to envenomate, that is, inject venom
Speaker 1: into humans. The venom is pretty potent, up to fifteen
Speaker 1: times stronger than a rattlesnakes. You can actually die from
Speaker 1: a black widow bite, but it's unlikely. One study looking
Speaker 1: at twenty three thousand, four hundred and nine cases of
Speaker 1: exposure to black widow venom found that only one point
Speaker 1: four percent of patients had life threatening symptoms and six
Speaker 1: five percent had minor symptoms. Young children, the elderly, and
Speaker 1: people with compromised immunity are at a greater risk of
Speaker 1: serious complications. Black widow venom is so dangerous because it
Speaker 1: contains neurotoxins, which are toxins that act on the nervous system,
Speaker 1: called later toxins. If they're tiny, fangs do break your skin,
Speaker 1: which will feel like a pin prick, and the venom
Speaker 1: does enter your bloodstream, you'd know pretty quickly. Within seconds,
Speaker 1: you would feel pain and throbbing at the bite site.
Speaker 1: The area around your wound would begin to swell As
Speaker 1: a venom traveled through your bloodstream, The pain, swelling and
Speaker 1: muscle contractions would spread as well. If your diaphragm was affected,
Speaker 1: breathing would become labored, your heart might begin to race,
Speaker 1: and you might become nauseated sweat, or experienced chills. For
Speaker 1: minor bites, all you need to do is wash the
Speaker 1: affected area with soap and water and taken over the
Speaker 1: counter pain medication. But if you have serious symptoms like
Speaker 1: the ones described above, seek medical attention. Healthcare provider can
Speaker 1: better treat pain, and if they decide that the FDA
Speaker 1: proved Blackwadow anti venom is necessary, and if they have
Speaker 1: it available, it's availability is limited, you'll feel better within hours.
Speaker 1: It's unlikely that you'll be hospitalized and even less likely
Speaker 1: that you'd die. Today's episode was written by Jennifer Walker
Speaker 1: Joony and produced by Tyler Clang. For more on this
Speaker 1: months of other topics that we've spun out, visit how
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