1 00:00:03,160 --> 00:00:06,040 Speaker 1: Welcome to stuff to blow your mind from how Stuff 2 00:00:06,040 --> 00:00:14,000 Speaker 1: Works dot com. Hey, wanting to stuff to about your mind. 3 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:16,520 Speaker 1: My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Douglas. Julie, 4 00:00:16,520 --> 00:00:18,680 Speaker 1: were you able to make it to work today without 5 00:00:19,360 --> 00:00:23,400 Speaker 1: finding yourself trapped and snared or otherwise captured by some 6 00:00:23,480 --> 00:00:28,680 Speaker 1: sort of large arachnet or insect barely bare sort of 7 00:00:28,760 --> 00:00:34,160 Speaker 1: like metal arachnets traffic? Yeah, yeah, I took the train, 8 00:00:34,280 --> 00:00:36,640 Speaker 1: so I had to deal with actual giant arachnets in 9 00:00:36,640 --> 00:00:39,320 Speaker 1: the subway tunnels. But but generally, I mean, you know, 10 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:41,239 Speaker 1: they're just going about their business. All they want to 11 00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:43,720 Speaker 1: do is protect their young and lay more if they're young, 12 00:00:43,760 --> 00:00:46,640 Speaker 1: inside your belly. And can you blame them? I know, 13 00:00:46,720 --> 00:00:48,479 Speaker 1: I mean it's especially on a cold day like this, 14 00:00:48,560 --> 00:00:51,200 Speaker 1: that's the warmest place to delay them your your brood 15 00:00:51,240 --> 00:00:55,040 Speaker 1: of eggs. Yes, seventeen degrees in the south here, all right. 16 00:00:55,160 --> 00:00:58,720 Speaker 1: So what we're talking about, if you guys are picking 17 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:01,760 Speaker 1: up what we're putting down here, are traps, Yes, because 18 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:04,280 Speaker 1: you know, as humans were pretty good tool users, we 19 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:07,560 Speaker 1: create traps all the time. But out there in nature 20 00:01:07,880 --> 00:01:11,440 Speaker 1: there's stuff going on. Yeah, I mean, human traps are 21 00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:13,320 Speaker 1: almost limitless. I mean, you can start with the really 22 00:01:13,360 --> 00:01:16,080 Speaker 1: basic stuff, like you just take a like a tiger pit. 23 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:18,639 Speaker 1: You know, here's a pit, cover it with some some brush. 24 00:01:18,680 --> 00:01:21,240 Speaker 1: After I've dug it out, something walks across the top, 25 00:01:21,280 --> 00:01:24,080 Speaker 1: it falls in. Now I've caught myself a tiger or 26 00:01:24,120 --> 00:01:27,200 Speaker 1: a person or what have you. There's a and then 27 00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:29,080 Speaker 1: if you want to up the anti, maybe you have 28 00:01:29,160 --> 00:01:31,160 Speaker 1: a sticks at the bottom of it, a sharpened stick 29 00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:33,920 Speaker 1: so that someone falls in, then they're going to potentially 30 00:01:33,959 --> 00:01:37,000 Speaker 1: be impaled upon those sticks. You have simple animal traps. 31 00:01:37,120 --> 00:01:38,880 Speaker 1: Have you ever used one of these, like to catch 32 00:01:39,319 --> 00:01:42,760 Speaker 1: wild animals or cats for Spade in the Neutering No, 33 00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:45,200 Speaker 1: we we My wife and I did a little of 34 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:49,760 Speaker 1: that at our previous house. And it's, uh, it's it's 35 00:01:49,800 --> 00:01:53,360 Speaker 1: pretty wild stuff because you'll catch multiple things. We were 36 00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:54,920 Speaker 1: trying to At one point we were trying to catch 37 00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:57,680 Speaker 1: a dog that like a puppy that was in the 38 00:01:57,680 --> 00:01:59,520 Speaker 1: neighborhood and it was, you know, sweet little dog but 39 00:01:59,560 --> 00:02:02,600 Speaker 1: clearly had no owner, was eating garbage and we gotta 40 00:02:02,640 --> 00:02:04,280 Speaker 1: catch this dog. We can, we can do some good 41 00:02:04,320 --> 00:02:07,480 Speaker 1: for this dock. But ultimately that dog was too wary. Instead, 42 00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:10,919 Speaker 1: we caught like three different possums. We caught two different 43 00:02:10,960 --> 00:02:13,880 Speaker 1: stray cats, and that eventually led into doing some spandar 44 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:16,079 Speaker 1: during with those guys, and then we caught our own 45 00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:19,560 Speaker 1: cat twice. Was this just a day of like catching things? 46 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:21,799 Speaker 1: Was just like, hey, we're gonna go out and we've 47 00:02:21,840 --> 00:02:23,600 Speaker 1: got this trap. You know, just set it up in 48 00:02:23,600 --> 00:02:25,160 Speaker 1: the night, you catch a possums, set it up in 49 00:02:25,200 --> 00:02:28,600 Speaker 1: the day, you catch your own cat, that kind of thing. Yeah, 50 00:02:28,680 --> 00:02:31,239 Speaker 1: and then then ideally that I think the county would 51 00:02:31,240 --> 00:02:33,519 Speaker 1: come and take it away. But but yeah, that's a 52 00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:36,000 Speaker 1: fun little trap. But then there are there are far 53 00:02:36,120 --> 00:02:37,880 Speaker 1: less fun traps that we've devised. Of course, when you 54 00:02:37,880 --> 00:02:41,280 Speaker 1: get into the world of land mines, we create explosive devices, 55 00:02:41,480 --> 00:02:44,720 Speaker 1: uh that that that you know triggered one one steps 56 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:46,840 Speaker 1: on them or when you know, some proximity mind of 57 00:02:46,880 --> 00:02:50,200 Speaker 1: some kind, and and those are of course, uh, pretty 58 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:54,160 Speaker 1: deadly and pretty horrible inventions. But throughout all of this 59 00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:57,239 Speaker 1: we we tend to think, well, hey, that's humans were 60 00:02:57,240 --> 00:02:59,880 Speaker 1: tool users. We make things, We make things that react 61 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:02,960 Speaker 1: to the presence of others. We create all of these, uh, 62 00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:06,480 Speaker 1: these traps. Be it's something rather simple like a little 63 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:10,639 Speaker 1: box of a twig or or something advanced like a landmine. 64 00:03:10,919 --> 00:03:14,119 Speaker 1: We're wildy, we're clever. Yeah, there couldn't be any other 65 00:03:14,320 --> 00:03:17,040 Speaker 1: animal or insect or arachnid out there that could be 66 00:03:17,080 --> 00:03:20,600 Speaker 1: as clever as us. Uh, that is not true. We're wrong. Yeah, 67 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:22,960 Speaker 1: And specifically in this podcast, we're going to talk about 68 00:03:23,160 --> 00:03:26,800 Speaker 1: arachnids and insects creatures that we can't We generally just 69 00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:29,160 Speaker 1: think there's no way that these guys are up to 70 00:03:29,240 --> 00:03:32,760 Speaker 1: anything on the level of human beings. And you know, 71 00:03:32,760 --> 00:03:35,520 Speaker 1: I couldn't help but think of Charlotte's Web when we 72 00:03:35,520 --> 00:03:39,720 Speaker 1: were looking at this material. Because spiders obviously are featured 73 00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:41,960 Speaker 1: pretty well in this area of trapping things, we tend 74 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:44,560 Speaker 1: to think about them as these passive trappers. But I 75 00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:48,880 Speaker 1: was thinking about Charlotte A cavodica in in Charlotte's Web, 76 00:03:49,200 --> 00:03:53,920 Speaker 1: and how when Wilburt figures out that she's like basically 77 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:57,280 Speaker 1: sucking the blood out of these insects, He's just recoils 78 00:03:57,280 --> 00:03:59,560 Speaker 1: and Horror doesn't necessarily want to be friends with her, 79 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:01,840 Speaker 1: and then she kind of lays it down for him, like, look, 80 00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:05,520 Speaker 1: this is how I survive. You get things brought to 81 00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:09,920 Speaker 1: you in a piale you, you lucky pig. I I 82 00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:12,920 Speaker 1: have to use my wits, and I come from generations 83 00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:15,440 Speaker 1: and generations of trappers. Yeah, and I don't think a 84 00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:17,640 Speaker 1: pig has a lot of room to judge a spider really. 85 00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:21,120 Speaker 1: I mean, pigs are not above doing a little killing 86 00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:24,680 Speaker 1: for their their food. Well, sure, but in this instance, 87 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:27,640 Speaker 1: and particularly in this story, it was it was this 88 00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:30,400 Speaker 1: great moment where it's like, you know, you can't necessarily 89 00:04:30,520 --> 00:04:35,760 Speaker 1: judge another person, animal insect for the behavior because they're 90 00:04:35,800 --> 00:04:39,919 Speaker 1: just doing what survival needs them to do. And so 91 00:04:40,400 --> 00:04:43,440 Speaker 1: that is what I think is so interesting about spiders 92 00:04:43,520 --> 00:04:48,159 Speaker 1: and their traps, because it's fascinating these these webs that 93 00:04:48,240 --> 00:04:50,200 Speaker 1: they create, and as you have pointed out in an 94 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:53,640 Speaker 1: earlier conversation with me, sometimes they don't even have a web. Yeah, 95 00:04:53,640 --> 00:04:56,080 Speaker 1: that's one thing about spiders. I mean, Cope, we have 96 00:04:56,160 --> 00:04:58,520 Speaker 1: to go to spiders first, because they are They're the 97 00:04:58,520 --> 00:04:59,840 Speaker 1: animal you think of when you think of an a 98 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:02,920 Speaker 1: will laying a trap. I mean, the spiderweb itself is 99 00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:05,240 Speaker 1: kind of a metaphor for any kind of a trap 100 00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:09,480 Speaker 1: or enscarement, or some sort of complex system of ensnaring 101 00:05:09,720 --> 00:05:12,039 Speaker 1: someone or something. But yeah, a lot of a lot 102 00:05:12,080 --> 00:05:15,160 Speaker 1: of spiders are don't actually spin webs, so they don't 103 00:05:15,240 --> 00:05:17,360 Speaker 1: use their silk and hunting at all. They're just using 104 00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:20,360 Speaker 1: them as building materials um or you know, to create 105 00:05:20,400 --> 00:05:22,480 Speaker 1: a nursery. Or they're using them as a drag line. 106 00:05:22,520 --> 00:05:24,880 Speaker 1: It's sort of, you know, a mountain climbing a line 107 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:29,000 Speaker 1: to use in the navigating their environment. But then there 108 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:31,400 Speaker 1: are a number of spiders that do use their web, 109 00:05:31,560 --> 00:05:33,960 Speaker 1: and we we generally, we generally go to the orb 110 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:38,719 Speaker 1: web spiders first because that's the more um iconic spider web, 111 00:05:39,040 --> 00:05:43,240 Speaker 1: that big orb shaped web. Flies fly into them and uh, 112 00:05:43,279 --> 00:05:45,640 Speaker 1: and then the spider comes and and creeps across the 113 00:05:45,640 --> 00:05:48,320 Speaker 1: web and fix them off and and generally that's our 114 00:05:48,440 --> 00:05:51,719 Speaker 1: When we think of giant spiders in fantasy and sci fi, 115 00:05:51,760 --> 00:05:54,920 Speaker 1: they tend to be a giant orb spider. But that's 116 00:05:54,960 --> 00:05:58,159 Speaker 1: just one of the many different ways that different species 117 00:05:58,160 --> 00:06:01,440 Speaker 1: of spiders use their webs, generally in some sort of 118 00:06:01,520 --> 00:06:06,520 Speaker 1: hunting or trapping scenario. Yeah, and this is from the 119 00:06:06,640 --> 00:06:09,280 Speaker 1: article how Spiders Worked by Tom Harris. I thought this 120 00:06:09,320 --> 00:06:12,039 Speaker 1: was such a great description of spiders. He says, spiders 121 00:06:12,040 --> 00:06:14,520 Speaker 1: are predators above all else, so hunting and killing is 122 00:06:14,560 --> 00:06:17,320 Speaker 1: where they really shine in the bug world. Spiders are 123 00:06:17,440 --> 00:06:22,240 Speaker 1: fairly fearsome animals. They're the tiny equivalent of wolves, lions, 124 00:06:22,440 --> 00:06:25,960 Speaker 1: or sharks. Yeah, they're basically second only to the wasp 125 00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:29,040 Speaker 1: because the wasp is just gonna rule over the spider 126 00:06:29,080 --> 00:06:32,480 Speaker 1: every time. It's true. And we recently were talking about 127 00:06:32,480 --> 00:06:36,160 Speaker 1: how if you could just somehow, through the power of alchemy, 128 00:06:36,200 --> 00:06:39,960 Speaker 1: I don't know, uh, miniaturize us humans. I would have 129 00:06:40,040 --> 00:06:42,200 Speaker 1: to say that if we if right now, if I 130 00:06:42,240 --> 00:06:44,880 Speaker 1: were just about, you know, a fourth of an inch tall, 131 00:06:45,360 --> 00:06:47,479 Speaker 1: if a spider was coming at me, this would be 132 00:06:47,480 --> 00:06:49,279 Speaker 1: the thing that I dreaded the most, more than a 133 00:06:49,320 --> 00:06:51,760 Speaker 1: cockroach or really anything else. Yeah, I mean the spiders 134 00:06:51,800 --> 00:06:55,000 Speaker 1: would be fighting over you. It's the thing. Yeah, in 135 00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:56,719 Speaker 1: that sense, you have a certain amount of power. You'd 136 00:06:56,720 --> 00:06:59,600 Speaker 1: be like you'd be like the wife of Ulysses, where 137 00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:01,360 Speaker 1: you have all the suitors coming for you, right and 138 00:07:01,400 --> 00:07:04,400 Speaker 1: you get to you get to make ridiculous demands of 139 00:07:04,440 --> 00:07:06,880 Speaker 1: your various spider suitors, which one will get to devour you. 140 00:07:07,200 --> 00:07:09,080 Speaker 1: And still I would not take it as a compliment. 141 00:07:11,080 --> 00:07:13,440 Speaker 1: Let's do a quick anatomy of a web, because, as 142 00:07:13,480 --> 00:07:18,280 Speaker 1: you say, you know or spiderweb classic here. Um, if 143 00:07:18,360 --> 00:07:21,120 Speaker 1: you look at how a spider constructs a web, it 144 00:07:21,200 --> 00:07:25,360 Speaker 1: all begins with silk line that is cast out into 145 00:07:25,360 --> 00:07:28,800 Speaker 1: the wind. And when the spider census it's caught upon something, 146 00:07:28,920 --> 00:07:31,680 Speaker 1: it will sense a starting point and use that connection 147 00:07:31,720 --> 00:07:34,400 Speaker 1: as a bridge. And this is really cool. Um. You 148 00:07:34,440 --> 00:07:36,440 Speaker 1: can actually see how this works in an article called 149 00:07:36,480 --> 00:07:40,960 Speaker 1: how spiders Work. And when that spider crosses that bridge, 150 00:07:40,960 --> 00:07:45,000 Speaker 1: it actually drops another loose thread and it climbs down 151 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:47,679 Speaker 1: on this thread and creates a kind of y configuration. 152 00:07:48,240 --> 00:07:53,040 Speaker 1: And from here on out it will start to create these, um, 153 00:07:53,160 --> 00:07:55,800 Speaker 1: you don't know, I guess you could call them anchor points, 154 00:07:56,240 --> 00:07:59,400 Speaker 1: and you have the sort of V configuration, and then 155 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:02,600 Speaker 1: it starts to lay out these radius points from the 156 00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:05,480 Speaker 1: center of the web to the thread. So now you 157 00:08:05,600 --> 00:08:10,120 Speaker 1: have these non sticky auxiliary spirals that it creates. And 158 00:08:10,160 --> 00:08:12,600 Speaker 1: the reason why it creates these non sticky parsons because 159 00:08:12,600 --> 00:08:14,720 Speaker 1: that's the part that it's going to actually travel on 160 00:08:14,760 --> 00:08:18,760 Speaker 1: the web, and then it creates another spiral that is sticky. 161 00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:20,840 Speaker 1: So it's amazing to me is that it's created this 162 00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:23,640 Speaker 1: complex web, but it has also given itself a pathway 163 00:08:24,080 --> 00:08:28,200 Speaker 1: on which to to tread. It Yeah, it's it's really fascinating. 164 00:08:28,200 --> 00:08:30,080 Speaker 1: One of the things that's top and overlooked is that indeed, 165 00:08:30,320 --> 00:08:33,000 Speaker 1: not all spider web is sticky, and they're in some 166 00:08:33,040 --> 00:08:34,640 Speaker 1: of these structures that we're going to discuss, some of 167 00:08:34,720 --> 00:08:38,000 Speaker 1: these traps and uh and web environments that are not 168 00:08:38,040 --> 00:08:41,560 Speaker 1: even sticky at all. So um so, yeah, the orb 169 00:08:41,920 --> 00:08:45,040 Speaker 1: orb web spider, the orb webs, the big iconic web. 170 00:08:45,080 --> 00:08:46,400 Speaker 1: But then there are a number of other ones we're 171 00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:48,679 Speaker 1: gonna go through. Some of these, uh, some bear more 172 00:08:49,320 --> 00:08:52,880 Speaker 1: mentioned than others. For instance, triangle spiders make triangular webs, 173 00:08:52,920 --> 00:08:55,160 Speaker 1: and these are essentially like imagine the orb web, and 174 00:08:55,200 --> 00:08:59,120 Speaker 1: imagine if you cut a pizza sized uh slice of 175 00:08:59,160 --> 00:09:02,200 Speaker 1: that web, that would essentially be a triangle whip. Otherwise, 176 00:09:02,240 --> 00:09:05,520 Speaker 1: it's basically the same idea, just on a smaller scale. 177 00:09:06,120 --> 00:09:07,920 Speaker 1: Now where it starts getting a little more interesting to 178 00:09:07,920 --> 00:09:11,000 Speaker 1: get into the world of funnel spiders. Now, funnel spiders 179 00:09:11,120 --> 00:09:13,520 Speaker 1: they make a sheet of silk and then they wrap 180 00:09:13,600 --> 00:09:15,400 Speaker 1: them up and they to make this funnel, you know, 181 00:09:15,480 --> 00:09:18,319 Speaker 1: just like taking a newspaper and rolling it up right, uh. 182 00:09:18,320 --> 00:09:20,719 Speaker 1: And the funnels have a big opening on one end, 183 00:09:20,840 --> 00:09:23,000 Speaker 1: and that's so where they catch the prey. And they 184 00:09:23,040 --> 00:09:25,240 Speaker 1: also have a small opening in the back and that's 185 00:09:25,280 --> 00:09:28,360 Speaker 1: the escape hatch in case the spider needs to run 186 00:09:28,400 --> 00:09:31,080 Speaker 1: for it. Okay, and it's not sticky, but the idea 187 00:09:31,120 --> 00:09:33,600 Speaker 1: here is that the spiders can move around really easily 188 00:09:34,160 --> 00:09:37,240 Speaker 1: in this uh, this funnel environment. They've basically made a 189 00:09:37,679 --> 00:09:40,880 Speaker 1: you know, home turf killing room where they have a 190 00:09:41,040 --> 00:09:45,000 Speaker 1: maximum ownership over their prey. So that in itself is 191 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:48,680 Speaker 1: pretty pretty amazing. It's not not exactly a trap, but 192 00:09:48,760 --> 00:09:51,160 Speaker 1: it's a It's they've created an environment that they have 193 00:09:51,360 --> 00:09:54,840 Speaker 1: just absolute control over and uh and and an outsider 194 00:09:54,880 --> 00:09:57,160 Speaker 1: is going going to be an outsider in that that 195 00:09:57,240 --> 00:10:00,400 Speaker 1: web of death. And I like thinking about it in 196 00:10:00,400 --> 00:10:03,839 Speaker 1: that way because it moves this idea from spiders is 197 00:10:03,960 --> 00:10:08,440 Speaker 1: creating these passive traps to really being tool users and 198 00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:12,360 Speaker 1: really premeditating the kills that they exact. Yeah, it's like 199 00:10:12,400 --> 00:10:14,720 Speaker 1: if a like if a serial killer was that was 200 00:10:14,760 --> 00:10:16,920 Speaker 1: the kind of would bring somebody back to his or 201 00:10:16,920 --> 00:10:20,200 Speaker 1: her apartment, and they knew exactly where they had the uh, 202 00:10:20,760 --> 00:10:22,839 Speaker 1: you know, their murder weapon stashed, where they had the 203 00:10:22,920 --> 00:10:26,160 Speaker 1: various instruments, where the escape routes were going to be. Again, 204 00:10:26,200 --> 00:10:28,800 Speaker 1: a complete home turf advantage, and that's what the funnel 205 00:10:28,800 --> 00:10:32,160 Speaker 1: spider creates here. Now, another thing is that a lot 206 00:10:32,280 --> 00:10:36,040 Speaker 1: of these webs will have a kind of anchor thread, 207 00:10:36,520 --> 00:10:39,480 Speaker 1: and this anchor thread sometimes is used to get on 208 00:10:39,520 --> 00:10:42,040 Speaker 1: and off of that spider web, but in most cases 209 00:10:42,160 --> 00:10:44,840 Speaker 1: it actually used is used as a kind of um 210 00:10:45,280 --> 00:10:49,360 Speaker 1: trip wire. And it's so sensitive and the spider can 211 00:10:49,400 --> 00:10:51,680 Speaker 1: tell so much from the movement that it can actually 212 00:10:51,720 --> 00:10:54,280 Speaker 1: know if it's a leaf that's hit it, or if 213 00:10:54,320 --> 00:10:57,120 Speaker 1: it's just the wind, or if it is indeed the 214 00:10:57,240 --> 00:11:00,760 Speaker 1: vibrations from an insect. Yeah, So they wouldn't fooled to, say, 215 00:11:00,760 --> 00:11:04,440 Speaker 1: by a child's finger poking in or something. Yeah, probably not. 216 00:11:04,480 --> 00:11:06,240 Speaker 1: They would probably know pretty soon that they were about 217 00:11:06,240 --> 00:11:08,400 Speaker 1: to be scooped up, put under a magnifying glass and 218 00:11:08,400 --> 00:11:11,120 Speaker 1: then set on fire. Now, a number of different spiders 219 00:11:11,120 --> 00:11:14,800 Speaker 1: these webs that are far less complex their cobweb spiders, 220 00:11:14,840 --> 00:11:16,559 Speaker 1: you know, and then everyone knows what a cobweb is. 221 00:11:16,559 --> 00:11:19,360 Speaker 1: It's just a small random mess of silk strings. Just 222 00:11:19,400 --> 00:11:21,319 Speaker 1: throw it together and see what gets caught in it. Right. 223 00:11:21,880 --> 00:11:25,680 Speaker 1: Mesh web spiders very similar. You'll find often find these 224 00:11:25,679 --> 00:11:29,400 Speaker 1: in grassy fields, under stones and dead leaves. Uh. Their 225 00:11:29,440 --> 00:11:32,520 Speaker 1: sheet web spiders that basically make webs that are formed 226 00:11:32,520 --> 00:11:35,480 Speaker 1: out of the different sheets of the silk and there's 227 00:11:35,520 --> 00:11:38,360 Speaker 1: just sort of jumbled together and not a lot of 228 00:11:38,440 --> 00:11:41,840 Speaker 1: large gaps to be found there though. One interesting type 229 00:11:41,880 --> 00:11:45,440 Speaker 1: of sheet web spiders are the bowl and doily spiders. Now, 230 00:11:46,240 --> 00:11:48,360 Speaker 1: what the spider does in this situation is it makes 231 00:11:48,400 --> 00:11:51,800 Speaker 1: an inverted dome shaped web, kind of like a you know, 232 00:11:52,400 --> 00:11:54,960 Speaker 1: like a bowl, all right, and that's suspended above a 233 00:11:55,040 --> 00:11:58,640 Speaker 1: horizontal sheet web, and that's the that's the doily, and 234 00:11:58,640 --> 00:12:01,240 Speaker 1: the spider hangs from the underside of the dome and 235 00:12:01,320 --> 00:12:04,200 Speaker 1: attacks prey. So you have to look at pictures of 236 00:12:04,200 --> 00:12:07,079 Speaker 1: that one, because it's a pretty pretty phenomenal looking web. 237 00:12:07,120 --> 00:12:09,400 Speaker 1: It just looks like some sort of crazy space structure. 238 00:12:09,679 --> 00:12:11,640 Speaker 1: And I like that there's a doily like a nod 239 00:12:11,679 --> 00:12:14,880 Speaker 1: to your grandmother's coffee table drink on top of it. 240 00:12:15,280 --> 00:12:18,120 Speaker 1: Um that reminds me of something called a net casting spider. 241 00:12:18,520 --> 00:12:20,840 Speaker 1: And this can be found across the world in tropical 242 00:12:20,920 --> 00:12:24,440 Speaker 1: and subtropical regions, and it's also known as the ogre 243 00:12:24,559 --> 00:12:27,840 Speaker 1: faced spider because of its distinctive really big eyes and 244 00:12:27,880 --> 00:12:29,680 Speaker 1: that helps them to see prey during the nighttime. But 245 00:12:29,720 --> 00:12:33,720 Speaker 1: what's notable about this is that they build cobweb sacks 246 00:12:33,800 --> 00:12:36,559 Speaker 1: that are held open with their front legs and they 247 00:12:36,600 --> 00:12:40,560 Speaker 1: have an anchor threat on it. Okay, and there's that 248 00:12:40,640 --> 00:12:44,160 Speaker 1: anchor thread that acts as a trip wire. And the 249 00:12:44,280 --> 00:12:47,880 Speaker 1: really cool thing is that when this spider sensus a vibration, 250 00:12:48,559 --> 00:12:51,559 Speaker 1: it will drop that net that it's holding with its 251 00:12:51,640 --> 00:12:55,320 Speaker 1: leg over the insect and a thousands of a second. 252 00:12:56,320 --> 00:12:58,720 Speaker 1: It's good. It's amazing. There's some really cool footage of 253 00:12:58,760 --> 00:13:01,360 Speaker 1: this on BBC. But it kind of reminds me of 254 00:13:01,400 --> 00:13:03,960 Speaker 1: like a character out of a mob movie. It's just 255 00:13:04,040 --> 00:13:08,719 Speaker 1: like throwing a hood over, you know, unpecting person and 256 00:13:08,920 --> 00:13:12,920 Speaker 1: drag them off and hit them with a bag of oranges. Now, 257 00:13:12,920 --> 00:13:15,320 Speaker 1: another that type of spider that does something just really 258 00:13:15,360 --> 00:13:19,800 Speaker 1: amazing with its web are the the Ceclosu spiders. And 259 00:13:19,880 --> 00:13:23,280 Speaker 1: these these guys they make a they make a more 260 00:13:23,360 --> 00:13:25,880 Speaker 1: or a standard web and and so you know, you're 261 00:13:25,880 --> 00:13:29,160 Speaker 1: not really impressed by that, but they make a decoy 262 00:13:29,320 --> 00:13:32,560 Speaker 1: of themselves in the web. They craft this out of leaves, 263 00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:35,720 Speaker 1: bits of dead insects, you know, the normal type of 264 00:13:36,400 --> 00:13:39,800 Speaker 1: craft that a spider is gonna find and in some 265 00:13:39,840 --> 00:13:42,480 Speaker 1: of these cases it even has the correct number of legs, 266 00:13:42,520 --> 00:13:44,520 Speaker 1: like it will even have eight legs on it. So 267 00:13:44,720 --> 00:13:47,679 Speaker 1: what they've created here is the decoy to confuse predators, 268 00:13:47,800 --> 00:13:51,040 Speaker 1: and if the spider is disturbed, it vibrates the web. 269 00:13:51,440 --> 00:13:53,960 Speaker 1: It vibrates its body, which vibrates the web, which causes 270 00:13:53,960 --> 00:13:56,760 Speaker 1: the decoy to vibrate and look even more lifelike. So 271 00:13:56,800 --> 00:14:00,320 Speaker 1: in other words, if it senses that there's a predator round, 272 00:14:00,720 --> 00:14:03,720 Speaker 1: it'll start to say, it'll start to shake it. Yeah, 273 00:14:03,880 --> 00:14:05,920 Speaker 1: the decoin be like, hey, I'm over here, I'm over here. 274 00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:08,720 Speaker 1: And in most times these decoys are much larger than 275 00:14:08,760 --> 00:14:11,839 Speaker 1: the spider itself. Yeah, so it can easily hyeah. That's 276 00:14:11,840 --> 00:14:14,679 Speaker 1: the other thing. It's a much larger spiders, a scarier 277 00:14:15,280 --> 00:14:18,280 Speaker 1: vision of the spider than it's than it actually creates itself. 278 00:14:18,760 --> 00:14:21,520 Speaker 1: But the amazing part of that, I mean, just stop 279 00:14:21,560 --> 00:14:25,200 Speaker 1: for second to think about this. This is interacted, lowly iracted, 280 00:14:25,440 --> 00:14:30,480 Speaker 1: and it has created uh an artistic interpretation of itself. Essentially, 281 00:14:30,640 --> 00:14:32,640 Speaker 1: That's what I was sitting here thinking that it has 282 00:14:32,720 --> 00:14:36,000 Speaker 1: the ability to understand what it looks like. And presumably 283 00:14:36,040 --> 00:14:38,720 Speaker 1: it's not sitting around with a mirror, you know, looking 284 00:14:38,720 --> 00:14:41,120 Speaker 1: inside the mirror, maybe a giant water droplet and looking 285 00:14:41,120 --> 00:14:44,200 Speaker 1: at the reflection. But in some way it can figure 286 00:14:44,200 --> 00:14:47,680 Speaker 1: out the dimensions of itself and recreate them. You know. 287 00:14:47,760 --> 00:14:50,040 Speaker 1: It brings to mind that that episode we did on 288 00:14:50,080 --> 00:14:53,880 Speaker 1: the Cracking and where we discuss the controversial theory that 289 00:14:54,000 --> 00:14:58,680 Speaker 1: these there is some prehistoric um cephalopods that would take 290 00:14:59,400 --> 00:15:04,000 Speaker 1: prehistorics sea creatures and crunch their bodies and create basically 291 00:15:04,280 --> 00:15:07,840 Speaker 1: a work of art that resembles themselves, which if you 292 00:15:08,040 --> 00:15:09,480 Speaker 1: if you just look at it that way, then yes, 293 00:15:09,520 --> 00:15:12,200 Speaker 1: it's mind blowing but also a little potentially a little crazy. 294 00:15:12,240 --> 00:15:15,720 Speaker 1: But the but the idea that that this particular squid, 295 00:15:15,760 --> 00:15:18,520 Speaker 1: this prehistoric squid might have been making a decoy of 296 00:15:18,560 --> 00:15:22,800 Speaker 1: itself out of the bodies of its victims, well that 297 00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:24,440 Speaker 1: is a little more in keeping with what we're seeing 298 00:15:24,480 --> 00:15:27,280 Speaker 1: here with the spiders. So I'm not saying it makes me, 299 00:15:27,400 --> 00:15:30,840 Speaker 1: you know, fall behind that cracking theory, but I feel 300 00:15:30,840 --> 00:15:34,240 Speaker 1: like it gives it a little more, a little more beef. 301 00:15:34,640 --> 00:15:37,440 Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean that that's a spider as an artist, 302 00:15:37,480 --> 00:15:40,680 Speaker 1: but what about as an architect, as an engineer? Ah? Yes, 303 00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:42,280 Speaker 1: And in this we get into the world of the 304 00:15:42,320 --> 00:15:46,280 Speaker 1: trap door spiders. These guys really up the anti here 305 00:15:46,280 --> 00:15:49,200 Speaker 1: because what they are doing is they're they're kind of 306 00:15:49,200 --> 00:15:51,520 Speaker 1: like taking the the idea of the you know, the 307 00:15:51,720 --> 00:15:54,600 Speaker 1: funnel web, but they're they're they're taking it to the 308 00:15:54,640 --> 00:15:59,040 Speaker 1: next level. So trapdoor spiders are essentially large spiders that 309 00:15:59,080 --> 00:16:02,960 Speaker 1: are close relatives of tarantulas. And they build these two 310 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:06,440 Speaker 1: black tunnels in the side of of of a bank. Okay, uh. 311 00:16:06,560 --> 00:16:09,160 Speaker 1: They dig the tunnel, then they reinforce it with a 312 00:16:09,200 --> 00:16:11,480 Speaker 1: mixture of earth and saliva, and then they add a 313 00:16:11,560 --> 00:16:13,200 Speaker 1: layer of silk on top of that. So it's not 314 00:16:13,240 --> 00:16:15,120 Speaker 1: just I dug a hole and I'm gonna hide in it. No, 315 00:16:15,360 --> 00:16:17,640 Speaker 1: They've crafted a hole. This is like the kind of 316 00:16:17,640 --> 00:16:19,280 Speaker 1: tunnel of you know, you would hear about in the 317 00:16:19,320 --> 00:16:22,040 Speaker 1: Great Escape, where there's all this like structuring behind it. Right, 318 00:16:22,080 --> 00:16:24,480 Speaker 1: they've smoothed out the tunnel. And the reason for this 319 00:16:24,560 --> 00:16:27,600 Speaker 1: is that because eventually this tunnel could be used for 320 00:16:27,720 --> 00:16:30,600 Speaker 1: bringing up some young uns right right, and and just 321 00:16:30,680 --> 00:16:32,760 Speaker 1: ease of movement through it. They again, it's kind of 322 00:16:32,800 --> 00:16:34,840 Speaker 1: like the idea of the funnel. They won't have maximum 323 00:16:34,880 --> 00:16:39,440 Speaker 1: control over this environment, maximum maneuverability within it. So they 324 00:16:39,480 --> 00:16:41,960 Speaker 1: have this uh, this this hole, this fancy tunnel on 325 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:44,560 Speaker 1: the side of this bank. But then they add the 326 00:16:44,560 --> 00:16:46,880 Speaker 1: final touch, and the final touch is they add a 327 00:16:47,040 --> 00:16:49,800 Speaker 1: trap door. Now there are two types. There's like a 328 00:16:49,880 --> 00:16:52,480 Speaker 1: court type trap door, which is thick and it's fitted, 329 00:16:52,720 --> 00:16:55,120 Speaker 1: and then there's this wafer type door, which is basically 330 00:16:55,120 --> 00:16:57,480 Speaker 1: just a sheet of silk and dirt. But either way, 331 00:16:57,520 --> 00:17:04,040 Speaker 1: they're both hinged like a like a really elaborate web hinge. Yeah, yeah, 332 00:17:04,080 --> 00:17:06,200 Speaker 1: I mean, it's amazing just to think that they could 333 00:17:06,280 --> 00:17:07,920 Speaker 1: fit the trap door in there, and by the way 334 00:17:07,960 --> 00:17:11,439 Speaker 1: that that one that's fit has a beveled edge, actually 335 00:17:11,440 --> 00:17:14,800 Speaker 1: fits in there. But it's that hinge that makes it 336 00:17:15,040 --> 00:17:17,600 Speaker 1: so amazing. And that's when you sit there and say, 337 00:17:17,760 --> 00:17:20,560 Speaker 1: how could you say this is not a tool user. Yeah, 338 00:17:20,640 --> 00:17:23,320 Speaker 1: you know, they've used granted they've used something that's come 339 00:17:23,320 --> 00:17:25,919 Speaker 1: out of their own body, but they combine that with 340 00:17:26,080 --> 00:17:29,200 Speaker 1: elements of the world around them to create this totally 341 00:17:29,440 --> 00:17:32,439 Speaker 1: artificial environment. Yeah. I mean, they've created this hatch that 342 00:17:32,520 --> 00:17:35,440 Speaker 1: they can surprise prey with because they feel the vibrations 343 00:17:35,440 --> 00:17:37,840 Speaker 1: of that prey coming along and then say ha ha, 344 00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:40,639 Speaker 1: here I am snatch you and I'm gonna take you 345 00:17:40,680 --> 00:17:42,680 Speaker 1: down into my tunnel, and maybe there's even some little 346 00:17:42,720 --> 00:17:44,720 Speaker 1: children here that would like to eat. Yeah, and then 347 00:17:44,760 --> 00:17:47,520 Speaker 1: sometimes it depends on this the exact species, but sometimes 348 00:17:47,520 --> 00:17:51,160 Speaker 1: they are there are branching corridors in the tunnel. Sometimes 349 00:17:51,200 --> 00:17:54,199 Speaker 1: they are multiple trap doors. It's essentially they build a 350 00:17:54,200 --> 00:17:56,320 Speaker 1: hobbit hole. It's like if if if you had a 351 00:17:56,320 --> 00:17:58,520 Speaker 1: hobbit hole, and then if you got too close to 352 00:17:58,520 --> 00:18:01,320 Speaker 1: the door, Froda would jump out and drag you inside 353 00:18:01,359 --> 00:18:03,720 Speaker 1: and suck all your blood out. Why is that terrifying? 354 00:18:03,760 --> 00:18:06,040 Speaker 1: I mean, Froda is not typically terrifying, but why in 355 00:18:06,080 --> 00:18:09,520 Speaker 1: that context, just because he's up to no good? He's sneaky, 356 00:18:09,640 --> 00:18:11,800 Speaker 1: you know. Yeah, I feel like there's some sort of 357 00:18:11,960 --> 00:18:14,440 Speaker 1: distent memory from Sin City that has melded with that 358 00:18:14,560 --> 00:18:17,120 Speaker 1: to sor Yeah, well, he's always playing creepy rolls these days. 359 00:18:17,119 --> 00:18:19,800 Speaker 1: He's in that remix of Maniac. I think it is 360 00:18:20,840 --> 00:18:23,320 Speaker 1: all right. Well, let's take a quick break and when 361 00:18:23,359 --> 00:18:26,320 Speaker 1: we get back, we will continue just to to take 362 00:18:26,359 --> 00:18:30,800 Speaker 1: out this house reports in the form of insects and traps. 363 00:18:39,680 --> 00:18:42,520 Speaker 1: We're back, Robert, did you know that there is a 364 00:18:42,680 --> 00:18:46,640 Speaker 1: terrible creature roaming the hundred Agar Woods. This is where 365 00:18:46,920 --> 00:18:50,320 Speaker 1: the backs and fell backs. And yes, that's where Winnie 366 00:18:50,359 --> 00:18:53,080 Speaker 1: the Pool lives, along with his friends and Christopher Robbins 367 00:18:53,119 --> 00:18:56,679 Speaker 1: and some mythical creature they made up called the Backs. 368 00:18:56,680 --> 00:19:00,240 Speaker 1: And I don't remember the facts. I remember the jagular Jack. 369 00:19:00,320 --> 00:19:02,919 Speaker 1: You are, yes. And of course all these plots I 370 00:19:02,960 --> 00:19:05,560 Speaker 1: have discovered, um, you know, reading these to my child 371 00:19:05,600 --> 00:19:09,760 Speaker 1: and watching the movies. It's all based on miscommunication, isn't 372 00:19:09,760 --> 00:19:13,679 Speaker 1: it comedy of errors? It's very shakespeareance. But in this instance, 373 00:19:13,720 --> 00:19:16,720 Speaker 1: the backson is a misreading of a note that says 374 00:19:16,760 --> 00:19:19,760 Speaker 1: back soon. Uh. You know, all the characters from the 375 00:19:19,800 --> 00:19:22,400 Speaker 1: hundred Acre Woods think that Christopher Robbins has been taken 376 00:19:22,400 --> 00:19:26,600 Speaker 1: by this backs, And so they create a pit, of 377 00:19:26,640 --> 00:19:30,880 Speaker 1: course classic, and they cover the pit with a picnic blanket. 378 00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:33,280 Speaker 1: They anchor it with stones, and they put an empty 379 00:19:33,440 --> 00:19:36,399 Speaker 1: honey jar in the middle. Oh, I see where this 380 00:19:36,480 --> 00:19:38,959 Speaker 1: is going, all to trap the Bacs in. But of 381 00:19:38,960 --> 00:19:42,440 Speaker 1: course what happens. We need to poose the backs and 382 00:19:42,520 --> 00:19:45,640 Speaker 1: all along. No, we need the Pooh, being a bear 383 00:19:45,800 --> 00:19:51,240 Speaker 1: of very little brains eat great huge heart, knows that 384 00:19:51,240 --> 00:19:54,080 Speaker 1: that honey pot is empty, and yet he still falls 385 00:19:54,080 --> 00:19:57,200 Speaker 1: for it. He still sees it and he goes for it. Anyway. 386 00:19:57,640 --> 00:20:03,359 Speaker 1: The point is traps abound everywhere. Children's imaginations, arachnids, and 387 00:20:03,720 --> 00:20:07,840 Speaker 1: in something called ant lions. Yes, the ant lion has 388 00:20:07,920 --> 00:20:10,280 Speaker 1: long been a favorite of mine. I remember when I 389 00:20:10,280 --> 00:20:14,840 Speaker 1: was a kid living in rural Tennessee, we would, uh 390 00:20:14,760 --> 00:20:17,080 Speaker 1: we I would go down to the to this sort 391 00:20:17,119 --> 00:20:19,680 Speaker 1: of sandy spot near our house, and I would watch 392 00:20:19,720 --> 00:20:21,600 Speaker 1: the ant lions in action and kind of and try 393 00:20:21,640 --> 00:20:24,920 Speaker 1: to poke a little sticks down to rile them up. Uh. 394 00:20:24,960 --> 00:20:27,360 Speaker 1: If you're not familiar with what an antline is, um, 395 00:20:27,440 --> 00:20:31,520 Speaker 1: they are essentially the star Lac from Star Wars. Like 396 00:20:31,640 --> 00:20:34,119 Speaker 1: basically that's the concept, except on a much smaller level. 397 00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:37,360 Speaker 1: And they're just the perfect creature for the twelve year 398 00:20:37,400 --> 00:20:39,440 Speaker 1: old boy and all of us. Um. By the way, 399 00:20:39,520 --> 00:20:46,439 Speaker 1: my daughter calls me star like when she's mad at me. Really, so, 400 00:20:46,520 --> 00:20:50,600 Speaker 1: the ant lion is actually the larval creature here. It's 401 00:20:50,600 --> 00:20:54,400 Speaker 1: he's one of these situations where it's this particular species 402 00:20:54,440 --> 00:20:57,880 Speaker 1: is most famous in its larval stage and it's incomplete stage. Uh, 403 00:20:57,960 --> 00:21:01,200 Speaker 1: it eventually becomes an aunt griffin. Nobody really cares about 404 00:21:01,200 --> 00:21:02,720 Speaker 1: the ant griffin because it's just kind of boring. It 405 00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:05,320 Speaker 1: flies around, uh and you know, and and and breeds 406 00:21:05,359 --> 00:21:08,240 Speaker 1: and all the important things that an adult insect needs 407 00:21:08,280 --> 00:21:11,520 Speaker 1: to do. But this larval ant lion is the one 408 00:21:11,560 --> 00:21:14,640 Speaker 1: that blazes and a pretty impressive trap. What the ant 409 00:21:14,680 --> 00:21:17,919 Speaker 1: lion does is it digs a pit, all right, and 410 00:21:18,080 --> 00:21:21,360 Speaker 1: it places itself at the bottom. So in the same 411 00:21:21,400 --> 00:21:23,240 Speaker 1: way that a human might create a tiger pit with 412 00:21:23,280 --> 00:21:25,840 Speaker 1: steaks at the bottom, it's doing a similar thing, except 413 00:21:25,880 --> 00:21:28,000 Speaker 1: it is the steak all right. So if it were 414 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:30,119 Speaker 1: in the Winnie the Pooh plot, it would have been 415 00:21:30,160 --> 00:21:34,320 Speaker 1: Tigger who jumped into the pit and waited for the facts. 416 00:21:34,400 --> 00:21:38,160 Speaker 1: And I guess, yeah, pretty much. So these these guys 417 00:21:38,160 --> 00:21:40,359 Speaker 1: are pretty amazing to look at two, because they have 418 00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:43,600 Speaker 1: this really globular abdomen, you know, there's very much in 419 00:21:43,680 --> 00:21:46,119 Speaker 1: keeping with a with a larval creature. But then they 420 00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:49,520 Speaker 1: have this flattened head and these huge sickle shaped jaws. Okay, 421 00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:52,800 Speaker 1: so they'll dig their way down into this hole with 422 00:21:52,880 --> 00:21:55,240 Speaker 1: their you know, butt first, so that their heads are 423 00:21:55,280 --> 00:21:58,720 Speaker 1: at the top, all right, and then they'll you know, 424 00:21:58,720 --> 00:22:00,679 Speaker 1: they're so they're burrowed in at the bottom of this 425 00:22:00,720 --> 00:22:03,720 Speaker 1: little pit. So an aunt comes along slides into the hole, 426 00:22:03,720 --> 00:22:06,600 Speaker 1: crawls into the hole, and then they'll start flinging sand 427 00:22:06,920 --> 00:22:10,720 Speaker 1: up one side of the pit, using upward jerks to 428 00:22:10,800 --> 00:22:13,679 Speaker 1: their heads, making it difficult for the ant to escape. 429 00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:16,280 Speaker 1: And then when the ant falls to the bottom, bam, 430 00:22:16,280 --> 00:22:18,680 Speaker 1: they pierce them with those sickle shaped jaws and they 431 00:22:18,680 --> 00:22:22,639 Speaker 1: suck them dry. Right, So you're probably thinking, why so fierce, 432 00:22:22,680 --> 00:22:24,960 Speaker 1: why so silent? So the lambs here with this pit. 433 00:22:25,480 --> 00:22:31,359 Speaker 1: The reason is that their larval stage is three years long. 434 00:22:32,520 --> 00:22:34,880 Speaker 1: I mean that's a long time to be in that 435 00:22:34,960 --> 00:22:37,280 Speaker 1: sort of stage where you know that you're you needed 436 00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:40,960 Speaker 1: a lot of protein, a lot of energy to to 437 00:22:41,080 --> 00:22:44,840 Speaker 1: grow out of. So think about newborn babies. Were they 438 00:22:44,920 --> 00:22:47,919 Speaker 1: to remain in that stage for three years, they'd have 439 00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:50,000 Speaker 1: to learn to do it on their own a bit. Yeah, 440 00:22:50,040 --> 00:22:53,520 Speaker 1: they would. They would grow a very fierce set of mandibles, 441 00:22:53,560 --> 00:22:56,359 Speaker 1: and they might start hunting woodland creatures with these pits. 442 00:22:56,359 --> 00:22:58,119 Speaker 1: And you can kind of understand why they go to 443 00:22:58,160 --> 00:23:01,879 Speaker 1: such lengths to trap prey. Yeah, because I think of 444 00:23:01,920 --> 00:23:04,400 Speaker 1: the caterpillar, right. The caterpillar has to eat a lot 445 00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:08,720 Speaker 1: of material in order to gear up for that metamorphosis 446 00:23:08,720 --> 00:23:11,680 Speaker 1: into its next stage, into its its final stage of 447 00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:13,919 Speaker 1: of life. But it gets to just eat, you know, 448 00:23:13,960 --> 00:23:16,920 Speaker 1: limitless leaves to to. In order to to reach that point, 449 00:23:17,280 --> 00:23:20,240 Speaker 1: the ant lion has to feed off a flesh and 450 00:23:20,280 --> 00:23:23,760 Speaker 1: therefore it has to have these amazing sickle shaped jaws. 451 00:23:23,800 --> 00:23:27,000 Speaker 1: It has to have this really cool um pit based 452 00:23:27,240 --> 00:23:31,359 Speaker 1: hunting style and just laser in ambush to to suck 453 00:23:31,400 --> 00:23:34,800 Speaker 1: itself some some some ants. The next guys are going 454 00:23:34,840 --> 00:23:39,440 Speaker 1: to kind of make these these horrible fierce mandibles look 455 00:23:39,640 --> 00:23:44,280 Speaker 1: like nothing, look like a dream. These are the Amazonian ants. 456 00:23:44,359 --> 00:23:49,040 Speaker 1: And we're talking about a torture rack here. Yes. Uh. 457 00:23:49,240 --> 00:23:51,159 Speaker 1: The the way that I would like to set this 458 00:23:51,240 --> 00:23:53,200 Speaker 1: up for everyone is imagine you were at Chuck E 459 00:23:53,280 --> 00:23:57,040 Speaker 1: Cheese or a carnival or some variation of a carnival 460 00:23:57,119 --> 00:23:59,639 Speaker 1: or Chuck e Cheese. Right, what they always have they 461 00:23:59,640 --> 00:24:02,200 Speaker 1: always have the whack a Mole area. Well they have cheese, 462 00:24:02,240 --> 00:24:04,000 Speaker 1: but they have the whack a Mole game. Right. The 463 00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:06,680 Speaker 1: whack amole game, of course, has is this this platform 464 00:24:06,680 --> 00:24:09,760 Speaker 1: has all these holes and then these moles, these cartoon 465 00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:11,680 Speaker 1: moles will pop up. And what happens when a mole 466 00:24:11,720 --> 00:24:14,399 Speaker 1: pops up, Well you take this hammer and you just 467 00:24:14,640 --> 00:24:16,880 Speaker 1: slam it, or you attempt to you. Of course, it's 468 00:24:16,880 --> 00:24:19,320 Speaker 1: too fast usually for you to actually get the mole, 469 00:24:19,400 --> 00:24:21,520 Speaker 1: and it's frustrating and you won't get your ticket and 470 00:24:21,520 --> 00:24:23,160 Speaker 1: be able to turn that ticket in for a toy. 471 00:24:23,440 --> 00:24:27,280 Speaker 1: This it's okay, Julie's okay. So this will make you 472 00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:30,040 Speaker 1: feel better or maybe worse about the whole scenario. Imagine 473 00:24:30,040 --> 00:24:31,200 Speaker 1: that you went up to one of these whack a 474 00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:34,760 Speaker 1: Mole games and when you got too close, and let's 475 00:24:34,760 --> 00:24:36,760 Speaker 1: say you reach out and actually touch the surface of it, 476 00:24:37,119 --> 00:24:41,160 Speaker 1: several of the moles came out and grabbed your limbs 477 00:24:41,480 --> 00:24:44,040 Speaker 1: and held you in place against the whack a Mole game. 478 00:24:44,359 --> 00:24:46,560 Speaker 1: You can't move, you're struggling, but they're just holding on tight. 479 00:24:46,680 --> 00:24:49,320 Speaker 1: They're pulling you tighter and tighter. And then a whole 480 00:24:49,320 --> 00:24:51,240 Speaker 1: bunch of other moles emerged on the other side of 481 00:24:51,280 --> 00:24:54,159 Speaker 1: the machine, and they have hypodermic needles loaded with poison, 482 00:24:54,160 --> 00:24:55,919 Speaker 1: and may you start jabbing you with those things and 483 00:24:55,920 --> 00:24:59,639 Speaker 1: injecting you, and then suddenly you're paralyzed. They drag you 484 00:24:59,680 --> 00:25:02,439 Speaker 1: away to their their din and do god knows what 485 00:25:02,600 --> 00:25:07,480 Speaker 1: with you. They tear you limb from limb ah. This 486 00:25:07,560 --> 00:25:10,199 Speaker 1: is the Amazonian aunt, my friends. This is basically what 487 00:25:10,280 --> 00:25:13,080 Speaker 1: it goes on with these guys. I mean, instead of 488 00:25:13,119 --> 00:25:15,520 Speaker 1: the little whack a mole platform, they're just using some 489 00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:18,879 Speaker 1: plant material. Yeah, but they but they definitely constructed. And 490 00:25:18,920 --> 00:25:21,560 Speaker 1: that's the amazing that they basically build their own whackamole 491 00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:25,639 Speaker 1: machine here. Uh, they're torturous whackamo machine. They cut hairs 492 00:25:25,800 --> 00:25:28,560 Speaker 1: from the stem of the plant that they inhabit, and 493 00:25:28,600 --> 00:25:31,600 Speaker 1: they use the tiny fibers to build this spongey snare 494 00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:34,560 Speaker 1: and uh, and indeed it's kind of like a torture 495 00:25:34,600 --> 00:25:38,440 Speaker 1: rack because anything that walks across that surface. They It's 496 00:25:38,480 --> 00:25:42,879 Speaker 1: important to know that they also drill the whackamole holes 497 00:25:42,920 --> 00:25:45,520 Speaker 1: in the surface and if your lag, if you're an insect, 498 00:25:45,600 --> 00:25:47,520 Speaker 1: and your leg will fit into one of those holes. 499 00:25:47,520 --> 00:25:49,760 Speaker 1: When you walk across it, they will grab onto it 500 00:25:49,760 --> 00:25:52,480 Speaker 1: because they're lurking underneath there. They'll grab onto it, hold 501 00:25:52,520 --> 00:25:55,600 Speaker 1: you in place, and once they have you secured, a 502 00:25:55,600 --> 00:25:58,080 Speaker 1: whole bunch of other ants will come up and have 503 00:25:58,240 --> 00:26:01,800 Speaker 1: at you. Yeah, they'll sting you into paralysis. I really 504 00:26:01,840 --> 00:26:05,280 Speaker 1: like this description from this BBC article called fierce ants 505 00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:08,359 Speaker 1: build torture rac Once the prey is well secured by 506 00:26:08,480 --> 00:26:12,040 Speaker 1: jaws fastening all its extremities. It has stretched over the 507 00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:15,800 Speaker 1: platform like an ancient sacrifice to the gods. Yeah. I 508 00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:19,760 Speaker 1: like that. I like a clearly that, like the the 509 00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:22,719 Speaker 1: author was just in total awe of this, uh this, 510 00:26:22,840 --> 00:26:25,760 Speaker 1: uh the situation, and by all rights they should have been, 511 00:26:26,080 --> 00:26:29,800 Speaker 1: because it's it's it's amazing and you have to I 512 00:26:29,800 --> 00:26:32,400 Speaker 1: mean answer pretty amazing. Anyway, We've seen plenty of examples 513 00:26:32,400 --> 00:26:35,600 Speaker 1: of ants. You know, they build these these fabulous colonies. 514 00:26:35,960 --> 00:26:39,960 Speaker 1: In many cases, they're they're they're farming, they're they're bringing 515 00:26:40,040 --> 00:26:42,359 Speaker 1: leaves back in order to to grow their own food 516 00:26:42,760 --> 00:26:45,960 Speaker 1: within the you know, the belly of their colony. So 517 00:26:46,119 --> 00:26:48,320 Speaker 1: we we know that answer pretty advanced. We know, we 518 00:26:48,320 --> 00:26:50,680 Speaker 1: we've covered before some of the various ways that they 519 00:26:50,680 --> 00:26:54,719 Speaker 1: wage war, that they that they build their societies. And 520 00:26:54,760 --> 00:26:58,800 Speaker 1: here's just another example of their amazing ways of working 521 00:26:58,840 --> 00:27:02,280 Speaker 1: together to uh to pull something off, in this case 522 00:27:02,320 --> 00:27:04,359 Speaker 1: the limbs of another creature. Yeah. I was just thinking, 523 00:27:04,400 --> 00:27:07,760 Speaker 1: I think I'm going to revise, uh, my my idea 524 00:27:07,880 --> 00:27:12,080 Speaker 1: of being you know, uh, becoming a little little futition Julie, 525 00:27:12,080 --> 00:27:16,160 Speaker 1: a little tiny Julie and meeting my fate with a spider. Um, 526 00:27:16,200 --> 00:27:17,920 Speaker 1: I don't think that would be the most fearsome thing. 527 00:27:18,160 --> 00:27:20,160 Speaker 1: I think it would be these guys, you think so, yeah, 528 00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:25,360 Speaker 1: being torn as under? Yeah, stretched, m m, yeah yeah. 529 00:27:25,400 --> 00:27:28,000 Speaker 1: I'd be hard pressed to decide which which one I 530 00:27:28,040 --> 00:27:33,520 Speaker 1: would I would find the most nightmareck to encounter. I 531 00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:37,119 Speaker 1: guess I tend to side with like the ant lion 532 00:27:37,359 --> 00:27:41,640 Speaker 1: or the trapdoor spider, just because both of them are 533 00:27:41,920 --> 00:27:45,159 Speaker 1: the idea of falling into something, falling into an environment 534 00:27:45,240 --> 00:27:49,200 Speaker 1: where where you have no control and then you're consumed 535 00:27:49,240 --> 00:27:52,000 Speaker 1: by the monster and you know, it's like a dark 536 00:27:52,040 --> 00:27:55,000 Speaker 1: space or pit. I don't know it, just those those 537 00:27:55,040 --> 00:27:58,399 Speaker 1: ideas feel me with with more dread fair enough, but 538 00:27:58,560 --> 00:28:00,359 Speaker 1: I guess I would hold up. I feel like maybe 539 00:28:00,400 --> 00:28:02,680 Speaker 1: I would have a better chance against the ant lion 540 00:28:03,160 --> 00:28:06,000 Speaker 1: just because it's it's a little simpler trap, whereas the 541 00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:08,959 Speaker 1: spider is going to outmaneuver me at every turn. So 542 00:28:09,160 --> 00:28:12,439 Speaker 1: I'm going to say the trapdoor spider is the the 543 00:28:12,480 --> 00:28:14,760 Speaker 1: one that scares me the most. You write the antline, 544 00:28:14,840 --> 00:28:16,800 Speaker 1: they really have to rely on their ability and move 545 00:28:16,880 --> 00:28:20,320 Speaker 1: from dirt quickly your way to try to get you 546 00:28:20,359 --> 00:28:23,280 Speaker 1: off course. So you might have a chance there you know, 547 00:28:23,920 --> 00:28:26,399 Speaker 1: mentioning the star Lac and the antline. I wonder, And 548 00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:28,919 Speaker 1: I know there's a lot of expanded Universe material out 549 00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:30,919 Speaker 1: there about Star Wars, and I know some of our 550 00:28:30,960 --> 00:28:35,159 Speaker 1: listeners have probably read it. Has anyone ever formulated an 551 00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:37,280 Speaker 1: idea of the star Lac? That the star Lac is 552 00:28:37,320 --> 00:28:40,960 Speaker 1: a larva and that it is eventually, if it eats enough, 553 00:28:41,360 --> 00:28:44,960 Speaker 1: like you know, Jedi and Goblinman, that it's gonna you know, 554 00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:47,200 Speaker 1: sprout wings and fly off and be some sort of fabulous, 555 00:28:47,200 --> 00:28:49,479 Speaker 1: beautiful creature. I don't know, but I will now when 556 00:28:49,520 --> 00:28:53,240 Speaker 1: I get home, consult my daughter's Star Wars encyclopedia to 557 00:28:53,360 --> 00:28:55,120 Speaker 1: see what they have to say on the matter. That is, 558 00:28:55,200 --> 00:28:57,840 Speaker 1: how big is that thing? I think I saw something 559 00:28:57,840 --> 00:29:01,240 Speaker 1: like two characters, and don't She'll rattle off a bunch 560 00:29:01,240 --> 00:29:03,640 Speaker 1: of them. I mean, I know a good amount of them, 561 00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:06,240 Speaker 1: but there are some that seem extremely obscure to me. 562 00:29:07,600 --> 00:29:10,240 Speaker 1: And uh, it's amazing. She'll tell me the species the 563 00:29:10,280 --> 00:29:13,480 Speaker 1: home planet. Yeah, what's her? What's her absolute favorite? Starts 564 00:29:13,600 --> 00:29:19,440 Speaker 1: Star Wars subject to talk about? Um subject? Well, it's 565 00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:23,719 Speaker 1: Darth Vader. I mean, she's completely preoccupied by his duality, 566 00:29:24,080 --> 00:29:27,040 Speaker 1: you know, that that he was Anakin and became Darth Vader. 567 00:29:27,120 --> 00:29:29,600 Speaker 1: And I think a lot of kids are intrigued by 568 00:29:29,600 --> 00:29:31,800 Speaker 1: that because they begin to understand this idea of good 569 00:29:31,800 --> 00:29:35,120 Speaker 1: and evil forces. Yeah, I remember, you know, being into 570 00:29:35,200 --> 00:29:36,880 Speaker 1: Darth Vader as a kid. I think that was something 571 00:29:36,880 --> 00:29:39,280 Speaker 1: that really attracted you to because it's like that first 572 00:29:40,320 --> 00:29:43,200 Speaker 1: villain character that you you you realize it is not 573 00:29:43,320 --> 00:29:46,640 Speaker 1: just this well of darkness that there is, uh, that 574 00:29:46,720 --> 00:29:48,840 Speaker 1: they fell from grace. I mean it's you know, in 575 00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:51,320 Speaker 1: that since it's kind of a satan character, but it's 576 00:29:51,360 --> 00:29:54,320 Speaker 1: actually broken down a lot easier for you to consume 577 00:29:54,520 --> 00:29:57,080 Speaker 1: than than the devil is at at that stage in 578 00:29:57,200 --> 00:30:00,320 Speaker 1: your mental development, right, And he's been transformed armed in 579 00:30:00,400 --> 00:30:03,480 Speaker 1: now he's sort of even um, he's even sort of 580 00:30:03,560 --> 00:30:06,560 Speaker 1: trapped in his own I would say, not his design, 581 00:30:06,640 --> 00:30:09,560 Speaker 1: but Emperor Palpatine's design, and he's sort ofly half man 582 00:30:09,600 --> 00:30:12,520 Speaker 1: half droid. Yeah, he's he's a fabulous It's easy to 583 00:30:12,560 --> 00:30:15,080 Speaker 1: overlook how fabulous the Darth Vader character is when you know, 584 00:30:15,120 --> 00:30:17,320 Speaker 1: you see him in commercials and stuff nowadays and you've 585 00:30:17,320 --> 00:30:19,760 Speaker 1: grown up with him, but you know, certainly a fabulous character, 586 00:30:19,840 --> 00:30:22,320 Speaker 1: for sure. There's a really funny book out. I don't 587 00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:25,120 Speaker 1: know if it's exactly for kids, but it's about like 588 00:30:25,240 --> 00:30:28,600 Speaker 1: Darth Vader and his relationship to his teenage daughter. I 589 00:30:28,600 --> 00:30:30,280 Speaker 1: wish I could remember the title right now, but it's 590 00:30:30,280 --> 00:30:33,320 Speaker 1: a very funny stuff. Awesome. I'll have to post it 591 00:30:33,680 --> 00:30:36,320 Speaker 1: on the old Facebook. Well, there you go. It's a 592 00:30:36,360 --> 00:30:38,520 Speaker 1: trap and it's a good thing. We ended up talking 593 00:30:38,560 --> 00:30:40,640 Speaker 1: about Star Wars because we got the title for the 594 00:30:40,680 --> 00:30:43,920 Speaker 1: episode from from Star Wars when they when they were fun. 595 00:30:43,960 --> 00:30:47,880 Speaker 1: It's a trap, right exactly. So hey, do we have 596 00:30:47,920 --> 00:30:50,800 Speaker 1: time for listener mail. Yeah, let's toss one out there. Okay, well, 597 00:30:50,840 --> 00:30:53,800 Speaker 1: let's call over our droid, our mail droid, and see 598 00:30:53,840 --> 00:30:58,120 Speaker 1: what we have to read here. All right, here's one 599 00:30:58,120 --> 00:31:00,320 Speaker 1: that comes to us from Colin. Colin, right sin in 600 00:31:00,360 --> 00:31:03,280 Speaker 1: response to our Uncanny music episode we did around um 601 00:31:03,440 --> 00:31:06,840 Speaker 1: October and around Halloween. He says, Hi, Julian Robert, I 602 00:31:06,880 --> 00:31:08,440 Speaker 1: was catching up on the podcast and I felt I 603 00:31:08,440 --> 00:31:11,280 Speaker 1: absolutely had to suggest a soundtrack relating to the Uncanny 604 00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:15,280 Speaker 1: Music episode. The Eerie soundtrack, produced by Jene Paptiste de 605 00:31:15,440 --> 00:31:20,840 Speaker 1: lab Companies the two thousands seven French film Water Lilies. Robert, 606 00:31:20,840 --> 00:31:23,080 Speaker 1: I think you will really like this album. Thanks for 607 00:31:23,120 --> 00:31:26,160 Speaker 1: the podcast. PS. I do believe the film is available 608 00:31:26,240 --> 00:31:29,080 Speaker 1: on Netflix. I actually I checked this out and uh 609 00:31:29,280 --> 00:31:31,640 Speaker 1: and the the artist on this I believe he records 610 00:31:31,680 --> 00:31:34,040 Speaker 1: under the name peril One and it's available. This is 611 00:31:34,040 --> 00:31:36,480 Speaker 1: a soundtrack is available in full on SoundCloud from the 612 00:31:36,560 --> 00:31:38,760 Speaker 1: artist himself, and it is really good. I listened to 613 00:31:38,800 --> 00:31:40,800 Speaker 1: it like four times in a row when I was 614 00:31:40,960 --> 00:31:43,920 Speaker 1: working the other day. So so thanks Colin for that 615 00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:47,200 Speaker 1: music recommendation. Pretty cool. We've got a quick one from Jacqueline. 616 00:31:47,280 --> 00:31:49,160 Speaker 1: She says, this is a wonderful show and I'm always 617 00:31:49,240 --> 00:31:50,960 Speaker 1: left wishing it was longer. I just listened to the 618 00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:53,920 Speaker 1: Normalcy Bias podcast. It was excellent and I'm fascinated to 619 00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:56,720 Speaker 1: learn more. I was inspired to hunt down the episode 620 00:31:56,760 --> 00:31:59,920 Speaker 1: on the rat King, which we referenced. In that episode, 621 00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:02,240 Speaker 1: she says, I used to work at a semi secret 622 00:32:02,320 --> 00:32:05,200 Speaker 1: underground animal testing lab. I was a rat keeper. It 623 00:32:05,280 --> 00:32:08,240 Speaker 1: was under a complex of cutting edge hospitals. On breaks 624 00:32:08,280 --> 00:32:10,760 Speaker 1: and lunchtime, the hazmat cleaner would come down and eat 625 00:32:10,760 --> 00:32:13,760 Speaker 1: with us. He was an extremely eccentric man, but one 626 00:32:13,760 --> 00:32:16,160 Speaker 1: of his rants was about the rat king. We never 627 00:32:16,280 --> 00:32:19,000 Speaker 1: understood one on Earth he was talking about, and now 628 00:32:19,040 --> 00:32:21,760 Speaker 1: it's making so much more sense after all these years. 629 00:32:21,800 --> 00:32:24,080 Speaker 1: It's wonderful to have to have it come full circle 630 00:32:24,120 --> 00:32:26,200 Speaker 1: and find out he wasn't as much of a loon 631 00:32:26,240 --> 00:32:28,680 Speaker 1: as we thought he was l o L. I had 632 00:32:28,800 --> 00:32:33,520 Speaker 1: never even considered that there was extant folklore or documented 633 00:32:33,560 --> 00:32:36,320 Speaker 1: clusters of rats. I just thought it was something his 634 00:32:36,440 --> 00:32:39,440 Speaker 1: mind concocted as a result of his fairly traumatic job. 635 00:32:39,520 --> 00:32:41,239 Speaker 1: As always, I learned so much. Thank you for your 636 00:32:41,280 --> 00:32:43,600 Speaker 1: work and the entertaining show. There's so much I love 637 00:32:43,600 --> 00:32:48,280 Speaker 1: about this um. There's a semi secret underground animal testing. 638 00:32:48,440 --> 00:32:51,360 Speaker 1: There's the Hasmat person who now I want to go 639 00:32:51,440 --> 00:32:54,760 Speaker 1: to my my nearest has Matt person and find out 640 00:32:54,800 --> 00:32:57,920 Speaker 1: all the secrets of every building. Perhaps I don't want 641 00:32:58,360 --> 00:33:01,920 Speaker 1: because I love this because I'm inagining like an underground complex. 642 00:33:02,160 --> 00:33:04,320 Speaker 1: And then there's like the break room and the mister room, 643 00:33:04,560 --> 00:33:07,080 Speaker 1: and they're having uh, you know, lunch with this dude 644 00:33:07,080 --> 00:33:10,480 Speaker 1: in a full hazmat suit. Who's who's really breaking down 645 00:33:10,880 --> 00:33:14,160 Speaker 1: the seriousness of the rat king threat? Right? And they're like, 646 00:33:14,200 --> 00:33:16,040 Speaker 1: oh man, he's gonna say he's gonna bring up the 647 00:33:16,120 --> 00:33:20,560 Speaker 1: rat king. Good stuff. Thank you so much. Jaqueline. All right, 648 00:33:20,640 --> 00:33:21,920 Speaker 1: So hey, you want to get in touch with us, 649 00:33:21,920 --> 00:33:23,760 Speaker 1: You want to share your thoughts on topics that we've 650 00:33:23,760 --> 00:33:26,640 Speaker 1: covered before, thoughts topics that we might cover in the future. 651 00:33:27,120 --> 00:33:30,440 Speaker 1: If you want to check out our various blog posts, 652 00:33:30,480 --> 00:33:32,720 Speaker 1: our videos, just about anything we might be up to, 653 00:33:32,840 --> 00:33:35,200 Speaker 1: links to our social media accounts, go to Stuff to 654 00:33:35,240 --> 00:33:38,160 Speaker 1: Blow your Mind dot com. I can't stress that enough. 655 00:33:38,200 --> 00:33:40,120 Speaker 1: That is the place to go for all your stuff 656 00:33:40,120 --> 00:33:43,440 Speaker 1: to blow your mind content, including every podcast episode we've 657 00:33:43,440 --> 00:33:46,240 Speaker 1: ever done, stuff you won't even find on iTunes anymore. 658 00:33:46,840 --> 00:33:49,520 Speaker 1: Go there and you'll find links out to our Facebook account, 659 00:33:49,560 --> 00:33:52,800 Speaker 1: to our Twitter account, our Tumbler account, our Google Plus account, 660 00:33:52,840 --> 00:33:56,800 Speaker 1: our SoundCloud account, uh YouTube account, and who knows, they're 661 00:33:56,800 --> 00:33:58,800 Speaker 1: probably accounts that we have I don't even know about. 662 00:33:58,840 --> 00:34:01,720 Speaker 1: There are mystery accounts. Sure check it out. Let's blow 663 00:34:01,720 --> 00:34:03,440 Speaker 1: your mind dot com and if you would like to 664 00:34:03,440 --> 00:34:05,440 Speaker 1: send us an email, you may do so. A blow 665 00:34:05,520 --> 00:34:11,600 Speaker 1: the mind at Discovery dot com for more on this 666 00:34:11,760 --> 00:34:14,280 Speaker 1: and thousands of other topics, says that how Stuff Works 667 00:34:14,280 --> 00:34:21,360 Speaker 1: dot Com