WEBVTT - It's a Trap! 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:06.040 Welcome to stuff to blow your mind from how Stuff 0:00:06.040 --> 0:00:14.000 Works dot com. Hey, wanting to stuff to about your mind. 0:00:14.000 --> 0:00:16.520 My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Douglas. Julie, 0:00:16.520 --> 0:00:18.680 were you able to make it to work today without 0:00:19.360 --> 0:00:23.400 finding yourself trapped and snared or otherwise captured by some 0:00:23.480 --> 0:00:28.680 sort of large arachnet or insect barely bare sort of 0:00:28.760 --> 0:00:34.160 like metal arachnets traffic? Yeah, yeah, I took the train, 0:00:34.280 --> 0:00:36.640 so I had to deal with actual giant arachnets in 0:00:36.640 --> 0:00:39.320 the subway tunnels. But but generally, I mean, you know, 0:00:39.360 --> 0:00:41.239 they're just going about their business. All they want to 0:00:41.280 --> 0:00:43.720 do is protect their young and lay more if they're young, 0:00:43.760 --> 0:00:46.640 inside your belly. And can you blame them? I know, 0:00:46.720 --> 0:00:48.479 I mean it's especially on a cold day like this, 0:00:48.560 --> 0:00:51.200 that's the warmest place to delay them your your brood 0:00:51.240 --> 0:00:55.040 of eggs. Yes, seventeen degrees in the south here, all right. 0:00:55.160 --> 0:00:58.720 So what we're talking about, if you guys are picking 0:00:58.760 --> 0:01:01.760 up what we're putting down here, are traps, Yes, because 0:01:01.800 --> 0:01:04.280 you know, as humans were pretty good tool users, we 0:01:04.400 --> 0:01:07.560 create traps all the time. But out there in nature 0:01:07.880 --> 0:01:11.440 there's stuff going on. Yeah, I mean, human traps are 0:01:11.520 --> 0:01:13.320 almost limitless. I mean, you can start with the really 0:01:13.360 --> 0:01:16.080 basic stuff, like you just take a like a tiger pit. 0:01:16.160 --> 0:01:18.639 You know, here's a pit, cover it with some some brush. 0:01:18.680 --> 0:01:21.240 After I've dug it out, something walks across the top, 0:01:21.280 --> 0:01:24.080 it falls in. Now I've caught myself a tiger or 0:01:24.120 --> 0:01:27.200 a person or what have you. There's a and then 0:01:27.240 --> 0:01:29.080 if you want to up the anti, maybe you have 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:31.160 a sticks at the bottom of it, a sharpened stick 0:01:31.240 --> 0:01:33.920 so that someone falls in, then they're going to potentially 0:01:33.959 --> 0:01:37.000 be impaled upon those sticks. You have simple animal traps. 0:01:37.120 --> 0:01:38.880 Have you ever used one of these, like to catch 0:01:39.319 --> 0:01:42.760 wild animals or cats for Spade in the Neutering No, 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:45.200 we we My wife and I did a little of 0:01:45.240 --> 0:01:49.760 that at our previous house. And it's, uh, it's it's 0:01:49.800 --> 0:01:53.360 pretty wild stuff because you'll catch multiple things. We were 0:01:53.360 --> 0:01:54.920 trying to At one point we were trying to catch 0:01:54.960 --> 0:01:57.680 a dog that like a puppy that was in the 0:01:57.680 --> 0:01:59.520 neighborhood and it was, you know, sweet little dog but 0:01:59.560 --> 0:02:02.600 clearly had no owner, was eating garbage and we gotta 0:02:02.640 --> 0:02:04.280 catch this dog. We can, we can do some good 0:02:04.320 --> 0:02:07.480 for this dock. But ultimately that dog was too wary. Instead, 0:02:07.560 --> 0:02:10.919 we caught like three different possums. We caught two different 0:02:10.960 --> 0:02:13.880 stray cats, and that eventually led into doing some spandar 0:02:14.000 --> 0:02:16.079 during with those guys, and then we caught our own 0:02:16.120 --> 0:02:19.560 cat twice. Was this just a day of like catching things? 0:02:19.840 --> 0:02:21.799 Was just like, hey, we're gonna go out and we've 0:02:21.840 --> 0:02:23.600 got this trap. You know, just set it up in 0:02:23.600 --> 0:02:25.160 the night, you catch a possums, set it up in 0:02:25.200 --> 0:02:28.600 the day, you catch your own cat, that kind of thing. Yeah, 0:02:28.680 --> 0:02:31.239 and then then ideally that I think the county would 0:02:31.240 --> 0:02:33.519 come and take it away. But but yeah, that's a 0:02:33.560 --> 0:02:36.000 fun little trap. But then there are there are far 0:02:36.120 --> 0:02:37.880 less fun traps that we've devised. Of course, when you 0:02:37.880 --> 0:02:41.280 get into the world of land mines, we create explosive devices, 0:02:41.480 --> 0:02:44.720 uh that that that you know triggered one one steps 0:02:44.760 --> 0:02:46.840 on them or when you know, some proximity mind of 0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:50.200 some kind, and and those are of course, uh, pretty 0:02:50.400 --> 0:02:54.160 deadly and pretty horrible inventions. But throughout all of this 0:02:54.200 --> 0:02:57.239 we we tend to think, well, hey, that's humans were 0:02:57.240 --> 0:02:59.880 tool users. We make things, We make things that react 0:03:00.120 --> 0:03:02.960 to the presence of others. We create all of these, uh, 0:03:03.080 --> 0:03:06.480 these traps. Be it's something rather simple like a little 0:03:06.560 --> 0:03:10.639 box of a twig or or something advanced like a landmine. 0:03:10.919 --> 0:03:14.119 We're wildy, we're clever. Yeah, there couldn't be any other 0:03:14.320 --> 0:03:17.040 animal or insect or arachnid out there that could be 0:03:17.080 --> 0:03:20.600 as clever as us. Uh, that is not true. We're wrong. Yeah, 0:03:21.000 --> 0:03:22.960 And specifically in this podcast, we're going to talk about 0:03:23.160 --> 0:03:26.800 arachnids and insects creatures that we can't We generally just 0:03:26.840 --> 0:03:29.160 think there's no way that these guys are up to 0:03:29.240 --> 0:03:32.760 anything on the level of human beings. And you know, 0:03:32.760 --> 0:03:35.520 I couldn't help but think of Charlotte's Web when we 0:03:35.520 --> 0:03:39.720 were looking at this material. Because spiders obviously are featured 0:03:39.760 --> 0:03:41.960 pretty well in this area of trapping things, we tend 0:03:42.000 --> 0:03:44.560 to think about them as these passive trappers. But I 0:03:44.600 --> 0:03:48.880 was thinking about Charlotte A cavodica in in Charlotte's Web, 0:03:49.200 --> 0:03:53.920 and how when Wilburt figures out that she's like basically 0:03:54.400 --> 0:03:57.280 sucking the blood out of these insects, He's just recoils 0:03:57.280 --> 0:03:59.560 and Horror doesn't necessarily want to be friends with her, 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:01.840 and then she kind of lays it down for him, like, look, 0:04:01.880 --> 0:04:05.520 this is how I survive. You get things brought to 0:04:05.600 --> 0:04:09.920 you in a piale you, you lucky pig. I I 0:04:09.960 --> 0:04:12.920 have to use my wits, and I come from generations 0:04:12.960 --> 0:04:15.440 and generations of trappers. Yeah, and I don't think a 0:04:15.480 --> 0:04:17.640 pig has a lot of room to judge a spider really. 0:04:17.760 --> 0:04:21.120 I mean, pigs are not above doing a little killing 0:04:21.200 --> 0:04:24.680 for their their food. Well, sure, but in this instance, 0:04:25.000 --> 0:04:27.640 and particularly in this story, it was it was this 0:04:27.800 --> 0:04:30.400 great moment where it's like, you know, you can't necessarily 0:04:30.520 --> 0:04:35.760 judge another person, animal insect for the behavior because they're 0:04:35.800 --> 0:04:39.919 just doing what survival needs them to do. And so 0:04:40.400 --> 0:04:43.440 that is what I think is so interesting about spiders 0:04:43.520 --> 0:04:48.159 and their traps, because it's fascinating these these webs that 0:04:48.240 --> 0:04:50.200 they create, and as you have pointed out in an 0:04:50.240 --> 0:04:53.640 earlier conversation with me, sometimes they don't even have a web. Yeah, 0:04:53.640 --> 0:04:56.080 that's one thing about spiders. I mean, Cope, we have 0:04:56.160 --> 0:04:58.520 to go to spiders first, because they are They're the 0:04:58.520 --> 0:04:59.840 animal you think of when you think of an a 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:02.920 will laying a trap. I mean, the spiderweb itself is 0:05:02.960 --> 0:05:05.240 kind of a metaphor for any kind of a trap 0:05:05.360 --> 0:05:09.480 or enscarement, or some sort of complex system of ensnaring 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:12.039 someone or something. But yeah, a lot of a lot 0:05:12.080 --> 0:05:15.160 of spiders are don't actually spin webs, so they don't 0:05:15.240 --> 0:05:17.360 use their silk and hunting at all. They're just using 0:05:17.400 --> 0:05:20.360 them as building materials um or you know, to create 0:05:20.400 --> 0:05:22.480 a nursery. Or they're using them as a drag line. 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:24.880 It's sort of, you know, a mountain climbing a line 0:05:24.920 --> 0:05:29.000 to use in the navigating their environment. But then there 0:05:29.000 --> 0:05:31.400 are a number of spiders that do use their web, 0:05:31.560 --> 0:05:33.960 and we we generally, we generally go to the orb 0:05:34.360 --> 0:05:38.719 web spiders first because that's the more um iconic spider web, 0:05:39.040 --> 0:05:43.240 that big orb shaped web. Flies fly into them and uh, 0:05:43.279 --> 0:05:45.640 and then the spider comes and and creeps across the 0:05:45.640 --> 0:05:48.320 web and fix them off and and generally that's our 0:05:48.440 --> 0:05:51.719 When we think of giant spiders in fantasy and sci fi, 0:05:51.760 --> 0:05:54.920 they tend to be a giant orb spider. But that's 0:05:54.960 --> 0:05:58.159 just one of the many different ways that different species 0:05:58.160 --> 0:06:01.440 of spiders use their webs, generally in some sort of 0:06:01.520 --> 0:06:06.520 hunting or trapping scenario. Yeah, and this is from the 0:06:06.640 --> 0:06:09.280 article how Spiders Worked by Tom Harris. I thought this 0:06:09.320 --> 0:06:12.039 was such a great description of spiders. He says, spiders 0:06:12.040 --> 0:06:14.520 are predators above all else, so hunting and killing is 0:06:14.560 --> 0:06:17.320 where they really shine in the bug world. Spiders are 0:06:17.440 --> 0:06:22.240 fairly fearsome animals. They're the tiny equivalent of wolves, lions, 0:06:22.440 --> 0:06:25.960 or sharks. Yeah, they're basically second only to the wasp 0:06:26.880 --> 0:06:29.040 because the wasp is just gonna rule over the spider 0:06:29.080 --> 0:06:32.480 every time. It's true. And we recently were talking about 0:06:32.480 --> 0:06:36.160 how if you could just somehow, through the power of alchemy, 0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:39.960 I don't know, uh, miniaturize us humans. I would have 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:42.200 to say that if we if right now, if I 0:06:42.240 --> 0:06:44.880 were just about, you know, a fourth of an inch tall, 0:06:45.360 --> 0:06:47.479 if a spider was coming at me, this would be 0:06:47.480 --> 0:06:49.279 the thing that I dreaded the most, more than a 0:06:49.320 --> 0:06:51.760 cockroach or really anything else. Yeah, I mean the spiders 0:06:51.800 --> 0:06:55.000 would be fighting over you. It's the thing. Yeah, in 0:06:55.040 --> 0:06:56.719 that sense, you have a certain amount of power. You'd 0:06:56.720 --> 0:06:59.600 be like you'd be like the wife of Ulysses, where 0:06:59.600 --> 0:07:01.360 you have all the suitors coming for you, right and 0:07:01.400 --> 0:07:04.400 you get to you get to make ridiculous demands of 0:07:04.440 --> 0:07:06.880 your various spider suitors, which one will get to devour you. 0:07:07.200 --> 0:07:09.080 And still I would not take it as a compliment. 0:07:11.080 --> 0:07:13.440 Let's do a quick anatomy of a web, because, as 0:07:13.480 --> 0:07:18.280 you say, you know or spiderweb classic here. Um, if 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:21.120 you look at how a spider constructs a web, it 0:07:21.200 --> 0:07:25.360 all begins with silk line that is cast out into 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:28.800 the wind. And when the spider census it's caught upon something, 0:07:28.920 --> 0:07:31.680 it will sense a starting point and use that connection 0:07:31.720 --> 0:07:34.400 as a bridge. And this is really cool. Um. You 0:07:34.440 --> 0:07:36.440 can actually see how this works in an article called 0:07:36.480 --> 0:07:40.960 how spiders Work. And when that spider crosses that bridge, 0:07:40.960 --> 0:07:45.000 it actually drops another loose thread and it climbs down 0:07:45.000 --> 0:07:47.679 on this thread and creates a kind of y configuration. 0:07:48.240 --> 0:07:53.040 And from here on out it will start to create these, um, 0:07:53.160 --> 0:07:55.800 you don't know, I guess you could call them anchor points, 0:07:56.240 --> 0:07:59.400 and you have the sort of V configuration, and then 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:02.600 it starts to lay out these radius points from the 0:08:02.640 --> 0:08:05.480 center of the web to the thread. So now you 0:08:05.600 --> 0:08:10.120 have these non sticky auxiliary spirals that it creates. And 0:08:10.160 --> 0:08:12.600 the reason why it creates these non sticky parsons because 0:08:12.600 --> 0:08:14.720 that's the part that it's going to actually travel on 0:08:14.760 --> 0:08:18.760 the web, and then it creates another spiral that is sticky. 0:08:19.280 --> 0:08:20.840 So it's amazing to me is that it's created this 0:08:20.880 --> 0:08:23.640 complex web, but it has also given itself a pathway 0:08:24.080 --> 0:08:28.200 on which to to tread. It Yeah, it's it's really fascinating. 0:08:28.200 --> 0:08:30.080 One of the things that's top and overlooked is that indeed, 0:08:30.320 --> 0:08:33.000 not all spider web is sticky, and they're in some 0:08:33.040 --> 0:08:34.640 of these structures that we're going to discuss, some of 0:08:34.720 --> 0:08:38.000 these traps and uh and web environments that are not 0:08:38.040 --> 0:08:41.560 even sticky at all. So um so, yeah, the orb 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:45.040 orb web spider, the orb webs, the big iconic web. 0:08:45.080 --> 0:08:46.400 But then there are a number of other ones we're 0:08:46.400 --> 0:08:48.679 gonna go through. Some of these, uh, some bear more 0:08:49.320 --> 0:08:52.880 mentioned than others. For instance, triangle spiders make triangular webs, 0:08:52.920 --> 0:08:55.160 and these are essentially like imagine the orb web, and 0:08:55.200 --> 0:08:59.120 imagine if you cut a pizza sized uh slice of 0:08:59.160 --> 0:09:02.200 that web, that would essentially be a triangle whip. Otherwise, 0:09:02.240 --> 0:09:05.520 it's basically the same idea, just on a smaller scale. 0:09:06.120 --> 0:09:07.920 Now where it starts getting a little more interesting to 0:09:07.920 --> 0:09:11.000 get into the world of funnel spiders. Now, funnel spiders 0:09:11.120 --> 0:09:13.520 they make a sheet of silk and then they wrap 0:09:13.600 --> 0:09:15.400 them up and they to make this funnel, you know, 0:09:15.480 --> 0:09:18.319 just like taking a newspaper and rolling it up right, uh. 0:09:18.320 --> 0:09:20.719 And the funnels have a big opening on one end, 0:09:20.840 --> 0:09:23.000 and that's so where they catch the prey. And they 0:09:23.040 --> 0:09:25.240 also have a small opening in the back and that's 0:09:25.280 --> 0:09:28.360 the escape hatch in case the spider needs to run 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:31.080 for it. Okay, and it's not sticky, but the idea 0:09:31.120 --> 0:09:33.600 here is that the spiders can move around really easily 0:09:34.160 --> 0:09:37.240 in this uh, this funnel environment. They've basically made a 0:09:37.679 --> 0:09:40.880 you know, home turf killing room where they have a 0:09:41.040 --> 0:09:45.000 maximum ownership over their prey. So that in itself is 0:09:45.000 --> 0:09:48.680 pretty pretty amazing. It's not not exactly a trap, but 0:09:48.760 --> 0:09:51.160 it's a It's they've created an environment that they have 0:09:51.360 --> 0:09:54.840 just absolute control over and uh and and an outsider 0:09:54.880 --> 0:09:57.160 is going going to be an outsider in that that 0:09:57.240 --> 0:10:00.400 web of death. And I like thinking about it in 0:10:00.400 --> 0:10:03.839 that way because it moves this idea from spiders is 0:10:03.960 --> 0:10:08.440 creating these passive traps to really being tool users and 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:12.360 really premeditating the kills that they exact. Yeah, it's like 0:10:12.400 --> 0:10:14.720 if a like if a serial killer was that was 0:10:14.760 --> 0:10:16.920 the kind of would bring somebody back to his or 0:10:16.920 --> 0:10:20.200 her apartment, and they knew exactly where they had the uh, 0:10:20.760 --> 0:10:22.839 you know, their murder weapon stashed, where they had the 0:10:22.920 --> 0:10:26.160 various instruments, where the escape routes were going to be. Again, 0:10:26.200 --> 0:10:28.800 a complete home turf advantage, and that's what the funnel 0:10:28.800 --> 0:10:32.160 spider creates here. Now, another thing is that a lot 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:36.040 of these webs will have a kind of anchor thread, 0:10:36.520 --> 0:10:39.480 and this anchor thread sometimes is used to get on 0:10:39.520 --> 0:10:42.040 and off of that spider web, but in most cases 0:10:42.160 --> 0:10:44.840 it actually used is used as a kind of um 0:10:45.280 --> 0:10:49.360 trip wire. And it's so sensitive and the spider can 0:10:49.400 --> 0:10:51.680 tell so much from the movement that it can actually 0:10:51.720 --> 0:10:54.280 know if it's a leaf that's hit it, or if 0:10:54.320 --> 0:10:57.120 it's just the wind, or if it is indeed the 0:10:57.240 --> 0:11:00.760 vibrations from an insect. Yeah, So they wouldn't fooled to, say, 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:04.440 by a child's finger poking in or something. Yeah, probably not. 0:11:04.480 --> 0:11:06.240 They would probably know pretty soon that they were about 0:11:06.240 --> 0:11:08.400 to be scooped up, put under a magnifying glass and 0:11:08.400 --> 0:11:11.120 then set on fire. Now, a number of different spiders 0:11:11.120 --> 0:11:14.800 these webs that are far less complex their cobweb spiders, 0:11:14.840 --> 0:11:16.559 you know, and then everyone knows what a cobweb is. 0:11:16.559 --> 0:11:19.360 It's just a small random mess of silk strings. Just 0:11:19.400 --> 0:11:21.319 throw it together and see what gets caught in it. Right. 0:11:21.880 --> 0:11:25.680 Mesh web spiders very similar. You'll find often find these 0:11:25.679 --> 0:11:29.400 in grassy fields, under stones and dead leaves. Uh. Their 0:11:29.440 --> 0:11:32.520 sheet web spiders that basically make webs that are formed 0:11:32.520 --> 0:11:35.480 out of the different sheets of the silk and there's 0:11:35.520 --> 0:11:38.360 just sort of jumbled together and not a lot of 0:11:38.440 --> 0:11:41.840 large gaps to be found there though. One interesting type 0:11:41.880 --> 0:11:45.440 of sheet web spiders are the bowl and doily spiders. Now, 0:11:46.240 --> 0:11:48.360 what the spider does in this situation is it makes 0:11:48.400 --> 0:11:51.800 an inverted dome shaped web, kind of like a you know, 0:11:52.400 --> 0:11:54.960 like a bowl, all right, and that's suspended above a 0:11:55.040 --> 0:11:58.640 horizontal sheet web, and that's the that's the doily, and 0:11:58.640 --> 0:12:01.240 the spider hangs from the underside of the dome and 0:12:01.320 --> 0:12:04.200 attacks prey. So you have to look at pictures of 0:12:04.200 --> 0:12:07.079 that one, because it's a pretty pretty phenomenal looking web. 0:12:07.120 --> 0:12:09.400 It just looks like some sort of crazy space structure. 0:12:09.679 --> 0:12:11.640 And I like that there's a doily like a nod 0:12:11.679 --> 0:12:14.880 to your grandmother's coffee table drink on top of it. 0:12:15.280 --> 0:12:18.120 Um that reminds me of something called a net casting spider. 0:12:18.520 --> 0:12:20.840 And this can be found across the world in tropical 0:12:20.920 --> 0:12:24.440 and subtropical regions, and it's also known as the ogre 0:12:24.559 --> 0:12:27.840 faced spider because of its distinctive really big eyes and 0:12:27.880 --> 0:12:29.680 that helps them to see prey during the nighttime. But 0:12:29.720 --> 0:12:33.720 what's notable about this is that they build cobweb sacks 0:12:33.800 --> 0:12:36.559 that are held open with their front legs and they 0:12:36.600 --> 0:12:40.560 have an anchor threat on it. Okay, and there's that 0:12:40.640 --> 0:12:44.160 anchor thread that acts as a trip wire. And the 0:12:44.280 --> 0:12:47.880 really cool thing is that when this spider sensus a vibration, 0:12:48.559 --> 0:12:51.559 it will drop that net that it's holding with its 0:12:51.640 --> 0:12:55.320 leg over the insect and a thousands of a second. 0:12:56.320 --> 0:12:58.720 It's good. It's amazing. There's some really cool footage of 0:12:58.760 --> 0:13:01.360 this on BBC. But it kind of reminds me of 0:13:01.400 --> 0:13:03.960 like a character out of a mob movie. It's just 0:13:04.040 --> 0:13:08.719 like throwing a hood over, you know, unpecting person and 0:13:08.920 --> 0:13:12.920 drag them off and hit them with a bag of oranges. Now, 0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:15.320 another that type of spider that does something just really 0:13:15.360 --> 0:13:19.800 amazing with its web are the the Ceclosu spiders. And 0:13:19.880 --> 0:13:23.280 these these guys they make a they make a more 0:13:23.360 --> 0:13:25.880 or a standard web and and so you know, you're 0:13:25.880 --> 0:13:29.160 not really impressed by that, but they make a decoy 0:13:29.320 --> 0:13:32.560 of themselves in the web. They craft this out of leaves, 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:35.720 bits of dead insects, you know, the normal type of 0:13:36.400 --> 0:13:39.800 craft that a spider is gonna find and in some 0:13:39.840 --> 0:13:42.480 of these cases it even has the correct number of legs, 0:13:42.520 --> 0:13:44.520 like it will even have eight legs on it. So 0:13:44.720 --> 0:13:47.679 what they've created here is the decoy to confuse predators, 0:13:47.800 --> 0:13:51.040 and if the spider is disturbed, it vibrates the web. 0:13:51.440 --> 0:13:53.960 It vibrates its body, which vibrates the web, which causes 0:13:53.960 --> 0:13:56.760 the decoy to vibrate and look even more lifelike. So 0:13:56.800 --> 0:14:00.320 in other words, if it senses that there's a predator round, 0:14:00.720 --> 0:14:03.720 it'll start to say, it'll start to shake it. Yeah, 0:14:03.880 --> 0:14:05.920 the decoin be like, hey, I'm over here, I'm over here. 0:14:06.000 --> 0:14:08.720 And in most times these decoys are much larger than 0:14:08.760 --> 0:14:11.839 the spider itself. Yeah, so it can easily hyeah. That's 0:14:11.840 --> 0:14:14.679 the other thing. It's a much larger spiders, a scarier 0:14:15.280 --> 0:14:18.280 vision of the spider than it's than it actually creates itself. 0:14:18.760 --> 0:14:21.520 But the amazing part of that, I mean, just stop 0:14:21.560 --> 0:14:25.200 for second to think about this. This is interacted, lowly iracted, 0:14:25.440 --> 0:14:30.480 and it has created uh an artistic interpretation of itself. Essentially, 0:14:30.640 --> 0:14:32.640 That's what I was sitting here thinking that it has 0:14:32.720 --> 0:14:36.000 the ability to understand what it looks like. And presumably 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:38.720 it's not sitting around with a mirror, you know, looking 0:14:38.720 --> 0:14:41.120 inside the mirror, maybe a giant water droplet and looking 0:14:41.120 --> 0:14:44.200 at the reflection. But in some way it can figure 0:14:44.200 --> 0:14:47.680 out the dimensions of itself and recreate them. You know. 0:14:47.760 --> 0:14:50.040 It brings to mind that that episode we did on 0:14:50.080 --> 0:14:53.880 the Cracking and where we discuss the controversial theory that 0:14:54.000 --> 0:14:58.680 these there is some prehistoric um cephalopods that would take 0:14:59.400 --> 0:15:04.000 prehistorics sea creatures and crunch their bodies and create basically 0:15:04.280 --> 0:15:07.840 a work of art that resembles themselves, which if you 0:15:08.040 --> 0:15:09.480 if you just look at it that way, then yes, 0:15:09.520 --> 0:15:12.200 it's mind blowing but also a little potentially a little crazy. 0:15:12.240 --> 0:15:15.720 But the but the idea that that this particular squid, 0:15:15.760 --> 0:15:18.520 this prehistoric squid might have been making a decoy of 0:15:18.560 --> 0:15:22.800 itself out of the bodies of its victims, well that 0:15:22.960 --> 0:15:24.440 is a little more in keeping with what we're seeing 0:15:24.480 --> 0:15:27.280 here with the spiders. So I'm not saying it makes me, 0:15:27.400 --> 0:15:30.840 you know, fall behind that cracking theory, but I feel 0:15:30.840 --> 0:15:34.240 like it gives it a little more, a little more beef. 0:15:34.640 --> 0:15:37.440 So yeah, I mean that that's a spider as an artist, 0:15:37.480 --> 0:15:40.680 but what about as an architect, as an engineer? Ah? Yes, 0:15:40.760 --> 0:15:42.280 And in this we get into the world of the 0:15:42.320 --> 0:15:46.280 trap door spiders. These guys really up the anti here 0:15:46.280 --> 0:15:49.200 because what they are doing is they're they're kind of 0:15:49.200 --> 0:15:51.520 like taking the the idea of the you know, the 0:15:51.720 --> 0:15:54.600 funnel web, but they're they're they're taking it to the 0:15:54.640 --> 0:15:59.040 next level. So trapdoor spiders are essentially large spiders that 0:15:59.080 --> 0:16:02.960 are close relatives of tarantulas. And they build these two 0:16:03.000 --> 0:16:06.440 black tunnels in the side of of of a bank. Okay, uh. 0:16:06.560 --> 0:16:09.160 They dig the tunnel, then they reinforce it with a 0:16:09.200 --> 0:16:11.480 mixture of earth and saliva, and then they add a 0:16:11.560 --> 0:16:13.200 layer of silk on top of that. So it's not 0:16:13.240 --> 0:16:15.120 just I dug a hole and I'm gonna hide in it. No, 0:16:15.360 --> 0:16:17.640 They've crafted a hole. This is like the kind of 0:16:17.640 --> 0:16:19.280 tunnel of you know, you would hear about in the 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:22.040 Great Escape, where there's all this like structuring behind it. Right, 0:16:22.080 --> 0:16:24.480 they've smoothed out the tunnel. And the reason for this 0:16:24.560 --> 0:16:27.600 is that because eventually this tunnel could be used for 0:16:27.720 --> 0:16:30.600 bringing up some young uns right right, and and just 0:16:30.680 --> 0:16:32.760 ease of movement through it. They again, it's kind of 0:16:32.800 --> 0:16:34.840 like the idea of the funnel. They won't have maximum 0:16:34.880 --> 0:16:39.440 control over this environment, maximum maneuverability within it. So they 0:16:39.480 --> 0:16:41.960 have this uh, this this hole, this fancy tunnel on 0:16:42.000 --> 0:16:44.560 the side of this bank. But then they add the 0:16:44.560 --> 0:16:46.880 final touch, and the final touch is they add a 0:16:47.040 --> 0:16:49.800 trap door. Now there are two types. There's like a 0:16:49.880 --> 0:16:52.480 court type trap door, which is thick and it's fitted, 0:16:52.720 --> 0:16:55.120 and then there's this wafer type door, which is basically 0:16:55.120 --> 0:16:57.480 just a sheet of silk and dirt. But either way, 0:16:57.520 --> 0:17:04.040 they're both hinged like a like a really elaborate web hinge. Yeah, yeah, 0:17:04.080 --> 0:17:06.200 I mean, it's amazing just to think that they could 0:17:06.280 --> 0:17:07.920 fit the trap door in there, and by the way 0:17:07.960 --> 0:17:11.439 that that one that's fit has a beveled edge, actually 0:17:11.440 --> 0:17:14.800 fits in there. But it's that hinge that makes it 0:17:15.040 --> 0:17:17.600 so amazing. And that's when you sit there and say, 0:17:17.760 --> 0:17:20.560 how could you say this is not a tool user. Yeah, 0:17:20.640 --> 0:17:23.320 you know, they've used granted they've used something that's come 0:17:23.320 --> 0:17:25.919 out of their own body, but they combine that with 0:17:26.080 --> 0:17:29.200 elements of the world around them to create this totally 0:17:29.440 --> 0:17:32.439 artificial environment. Yeah. I mean, they've created this hatch that 0:17:32.520 --> 0:17:35.440 they can surprise prey with because they feel the vibrations 0:17:35.440 --> 0:17:37.840 of that prey coming along and then say ha ha, 0:17:38.000 --> 0:17:40.639 here I am snatch you and I'm gonna take you 0:17:40.680 --> 0:17:42.680 down into my tunnel, and maybe there's even some little 0:17:42.720 --> 0:17:44.720 children here that would like to eat. Yeah, and then 0:17:44.760 --> 0:17:47.520 sometimes it depends on this the exact species, but sometimes 0:17:47.520 --> 0:17:51.160 they are there are branching corridors in the tunnel. Sometimes 0:17:51.200 --> 0:17:54.199 they are multiple trap doors. It's essentially they build a 0:17:54.200 --> 0:17:56.320 hobbit hole. It's like if if if you had a 0:17:56.320 --> 0:17:58.520 hobbit hole, and then if you got too close to 0:17:58.520 --> 0:18:01.320 the door, Froda would jump out and drag you inside 0:18:01.359 --> 0:18:03.720 and suck all your blood out. Why is that terrifying? 0:18:03.760 --> 0:18:06.040 I mean, Froda is not typically terrifying, but why in 0:18:06.080 --> 0:18:09.520 that context, just because he's up to no good? He's sneaky, 0:18:09.640 --> 0:18:11.800 you know. Yeah, I feel like there's some sort of 0:18:11.960 --> 0:18:14.440 distent memory from Sin City that has melded with that 0:18:14.560 --> 0:18:17.120 to sor Yeah, well, he's always playing creepy rolls these days. 0:18:17.119 --> 0:18:19.800 He's in that remix of Maniac. I think it is 0:18:20.840 --> 0:18:23.320 all right. Well, let's take a quick break and when 0:18:23.359 --> 0:18:26.320 we get back, we will continue just to to take 0:18:26.359 --> 0:18:30.800 out this house reports in the form of insects and traps. 0:18:39.680 --> 0:18:42.520 We're back, Robert, did you know that there is a 0:18:42.680 --> 0:18:46.640 terrible creature roaming the hundred Agar Woods. This is where 0:18:46.920 --> 0:18:50.320 the backs and fell backs. And yes, that's where Winnie 0:18:50.359 --> 0:18:53.080 the Pool lives, along with his friends and Christopher Robbins 0:18:53.119 --> 0:18:56.679 and some mythical creature they made up called the Backs. 0:18:56.680 --> 0:19:00.240 And I don't remember the facts. I remember the jagular Jack. 0:19:00.320 --> 0:19:02.919 You are, yes. And of course all these plots I 0:19:02.960 --> 0:19:05.560 have discovered, um, you know, reading these to my child 0:19:05.600 --> 0:19:09.760 and watching the movies. It's all based on miscommunication, isn't 0:19:09.760 --> 0:19:13.679 it comedy of errors? It's very shakespeareance. But in this instance, 0:19:13.720 --> 0:19:16.720 the backson is a misreading of a note that says 0:19:16.760 --> 0:19:19.760 back soon. Uh. You know, all the characters from the 0:19:19.800 --> 0:19:22.400 hundred Acre Woods think that Christopher Robbins has been taken 0:19:22.400 --> 0:19:26.600 by this backs, And so they create a pit, of 0:19:26.640 --> 0:19:30.880 course classic, and they cover the pit with a picnic blanket. 0:19:31.000 --> 0:19:33.280 They anchor it with stones, and they put an empty 0:19:33.440 --> 0:19:36.399 honey jar in the middle. Oh, I see where this 0:19:36.480 --> 0:19:38.959 is going, all to trap the Bacs in. But of 0:19:38.960 --> 0:19:42.440 course what happens. We need to poose the backs and 0:19:42.520 --> 0:19:45.640 all along. No, we need the Pooh, being a bear 0:19:45.800 --> 0:19:51.240 of very little brains eat great huge heart, knows that 0:19:51.240 --> 0:19:54.080 that honey pot is empty, and yet he still falls 0:19:54.080 --> 0:19:57.200 for it. He still sees it and he goes for it. Anyway. 0:19:57.640 --> 0:20:03.359 The point is traps abound everywhere. Children's imaginations, arachnids, and 0:20:03.720 --> 0:20:07.840 in something called ant lions. Yes, the ant lion has 0:20:07.920 --> 0:20:10.280 long been a favorite of mine. I remember when I 0:20:10.280 --> 0:20:14.840 was a kid living in rural Tennessee, we would, uh 0:20:14.760 --> 0:20:17.080 we I would go down to the to this sort 0:20:17.119 --> 0:20:19.680 of sandy spot near our house, and I would watch 0:20:19.720 --> 0:20:21.600 the ant lions in action and kind of and try 0:20:21.640 --> 0:20:24.920 to poke a little sticks down to rile them up. Uh. 0:20:24.960 --> 0:20:27.360 If you're not familiar with what an antline is, um, 0:20:27.440 --> 0:20:31.520 they are essentially the star Lac from Star Wars. Like 0:20:31.640 --> 0:20:34.119 basically that's the concept, except on a much smaller level. 0:20:34.160 --> 0:20:37.360 And they're just the perfect creature for the twelve year 0:20:37.400 --> 0:20:39.440 old boy and all of us. Um. By the way, 0:20:39.520 --> 0:20:46.439 my daughter calls me star like when she's mad at me. Really, so, 0:20:46.520 --> 0:20:50.600 the ant lion is actually the larval creature here. It's 0:20:50.600 --> 0:20:54.400