What Is A Spider? Spider Basics: Beyond the Eight Legs, Episode 1
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- Опубліковано 15 вер 2024
- Spider Basics: Beyond the Eight Legs, Episode I - What Is A Spider?
An overview of the in-progress Spider Basics series, and the first episode, discussing what specifically makes a spider a spider and not some other eight-legged creature.
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Special thanks to Spencer Hoffman, Kevin Wiener, Sean McCann, and Catherine Scott for their invaluable contributions.
"Terrestrial with one exception" Give us the forbidden Diving Bell Spider Lore 💪😤
I second that. Argyroneta aquatica are one of the most fascinating spider species.
Wouldnt there also be an exception on predator since there is one spider that is more of a herbivore
@@NoobSharkey What spider is this? I've never heard of an herbivorous spider.
@@chitlitlah if I remember correctly there's a little mexican spider that takes advantage of an ant - acacia mutualism and feeds om the stuff provided by the plant for the ants. I just woke up so can't remember the names right now tho
@@chitlitlah Bagheera kiplingi
The sleeping bag analogy is the best way to describe a moult I think I've ever heard.
It was pure brilliance!
Thanks! Molting is a pretty fascinating phenomenon.
My 4yo daughter wants to watch this a third consecutive time.
You're doing something right, keep it up.
I can never not laugh when I see those halloween spider skeleton decorations in stores every October
They can be so ridiculous, right?
I choose to believe they're the bones left over from the small vertebrae they consumed 😅
They're clearly a construct created by a lich from the bones of other animals as a facsimile of a spider to be more frightening
Its really cool for making custom skeletons, though. Bonus ribcages
Those are wild!
Pseudoscorpions are mostly venomous. It's not all of them but the ones that are have the venom in the "thumb" of their claw, which is awful lot easier to deploy than it is for regular scorpions.
I think explaining how spiders actually eat is very important because most people that don't know assume that they suck insides with their fangs. The spider answer to nutrient transport being to route intestines through every part of the spider *even the legs* is pretty funny.
First, thanks for the correction! A few people have corrected me on the pseudoscorpion thing. In my defense, some of them DON'T have venom, but I should address that what I said wasn't really accurate.
Second, your suggestion is noted! That's an important element of spider biology, so I'll try to cover it!
Yay! More spider content. I hadn't even gotten "Not Loxosceles" out of my head ...
Patterns on the butt? Not Loxosceles!
Doesn't have a butt? Not Loxosceles.
I'm sort of happy it's sticking with you. ;)
"Doesn''t even have a butt" is definitely the line stuck in my head XD
That’s how I got here.
My 'Less wronger is more better' mug has received a warm and amused welcome in my office in Scotland, thanks!
Glad to hear it!
Seeing a new spider video from you just made my day.
I just want to say thank you for making these videos about spiders! After watching your “These are the Spiders in your House” series I was able to identify a lot of spiders in my basement and garage during my spring cleaning! It was really cool to understand the little guys better and know they aren’t any danger to me! Thanks again Travis, I’m looking forward to the rest of the series!
You're very welcome, and thank you so much! I'm glad to hear that the videos are helpful.
I've always had a very visceral reaction to spiders, though my fascination with them has grown over the years. That being said, I've always had an appreciation of their importance to our ecosystem. I look forward to learning more of these amazing creatures.
Love the Ellen Ripley reference.
I had a very similiar revelation with parasites. Like ticks and flea.
I believe the usual interaction is that one animal eats the other and one vanishes completely, while some parasites like ticks (preferably for both) DONT kill their host and at best dont even damage them significantly, but that little bit of blood means they can procreate without having killed another being!
And all of a sudden you got a bunch more food for some frogs or smaller animals.
That kinda took a lot of the ickiness from them.
@@Moewenfels If there's any lifeform that justifies the 'ick', it's parasites. They live off of harming us, that means they are our enemies simply by existing. Spiders, on the other hand, are largely beneficial to us both on a personal and macroscopic level.
Glad you're learning! And glad you liked the Ripley reference. She's such a great character.
@@Moewenfels Yes the problem with parasites is not that the "mini-vampires" necessarily cause serious harm to their host (unless being attacked by an entire swarm which can literally drain the host's blood supply); the problem with ticks, fleas and mosquitos is THEIR microscopic parasites which can be transmitted to the host...i.e. Lyme Disease, Plague, Malaria, etc. Sadly, bloodsucking creatures make perfect vectors for spreading disease.
Love spiders
Same tbh 🕷
When I was a child, I was extremely terrified of spiders. I can remember screaming for my oldest brother any time I saw one. As I've gotten older, I've mostly gotten past that fear and find them super fascinating. I still have a rather irrational fear of jumping spiders (largely because of how they move) but even that has been slowly improving because I know they are harmless to me and very helpful in pest control. I love learning more detail about spiders, and random facts like how we have evidence that jumping spiders may have literal dreams. I want to know what they dream about!
Yup, there's some amazing research that's been done. The dreaming thing was amazing, that was just in the past year or two.
It's funny this video came up this afternoon for me. I was just washing dishes and I saw something out of the corner of my eye, and I saw a spider descend on her silk thread to the separator between the two sinks. I turned off the water so it wouldn't accidentally splash on her. She sat there for a minute, then started climbing back up her thread. I think she was getting a drink of water! I Googled if spiders drink water and it said they do! I looked up and she had settled back into her web in the corner of the light fixture above my head. So thanks for this, it was kismet!
That's pretty cool. About a year ago, I watched a cellar spider drink water from the wall above the tub while I was taking a shower, but it didn't have to descend using a web to get to it.
Glad this came at a good time, and thanks for the comment!
Travis, I used to have an aversion to spiders, but after watching your videos I have a newfound respect for them and have grown to love the little guys. Thank you!
Thank you so much for saying so! It's great to hear that I've been helpful in that way.
“Common threads”
That pun better have been intentional!
What happens if I say it wasn't?
@@travismcenery2919 *you*
@@travismcenery2919
We have to check your vitals
I am very happy you have created this new series about spiders! You make it accessible, funny, interesting, and its so important that more people understand how vital spiders are to the planet. Also enjoy your droll sense of humor and plain speaking. I've been a fan since your first video, and am thrilled by your success. Keep it up!!!!
Thanks so much, and thanks for sticking with me for so long! Feels like that first video was so long ago, when it was only about a year and a half. But my subscribers keep it going, so thank you!
Was terrified of touching these guys up until a year ago. Now I can’t stop learning and exploring these lil guys
Great to hear! Amazing how much learning about a thing can shift our perceptions of it.
Hey love what you do !!! Thanks ! When I was 20 yr’s old I was outside having my 20th b-day party and the largest jumping spidar I have ever seen came up on to the table and climbed on my hand !, I took a ton of macro photos and hung out with my new friend for over an hour , I was worried it would get hurt as we moved food and drinks around but it would NOT leave !, it stayed and crawled ALL OVER ME for about 6 hr’s it was an amazing day I will never forget , as night feel I gently moved it on to a tree and said goodbye, totally amazing…peace
That sounds like an amazing experience! Glad you're enjoying the channel, and thnks for the comment!
I used to be terrified of spiders, but after watching a lot of spider content on UA-cam like ExoticsLair I got over my arachnophobia and now I just wanna learn about them
That's great to hear, and thanks for being here!
@@travismcenery2919 thank you for enabling me and thousands of others to learn
“They don’t have wings, perhaps thankfully.” Perhaps good sir?? New nightmare unlocked 😂
Hehe! Yeah, kind of an unnerving thought.
@@travismcenery2919 I don't know about you, but giving a Tailless Whip Scorpion wings is just making an already cool arthropod 20% cooler.
I’m watching this video at 5:30 AM my time, solely because when I got up to visit the dunny just now I got stung by an upsettingly large wasp. So I’m watching a spider video (from my favourite internet spider guy) to calm down.
I think I can confidently say I’m over my former arachnophobia and there’s a new villain in my life 😂
(In other news, I relocated a St Andrew’s Cross spider from my kitchen to the epiphyte near my verandah a few weeks ago. It has since moulted and is an absolute gem shining in its beautifully constructed web, and I feel like a proud parent 🥰)
Sorry about the wasp sting, but happy my videos have been helpful! Thanks for the comment!
"magic butt rope" made my day, I adore these videos 😂💗
My guy, this is an excellent idea for a series. Your humourous yet educational approach is very fun to watch and listen to. Very excited for the next episodes.
As well, "chomple-bomps" is brilliant.
Glad you're enjoying the channel! And "chomple-bomps" isn't my word, I wish I could remember who I heard it from. I love it, though.
Great idea for a series!
Thanks, glad you like the concept!
The real Spiderman! Your videos and sense of humor are the best for learning about our 8-legged friends! This new series is going to be great!
Thanks so much! I'm looking forward to making the next episodes.
YAY!!! I've been having a really rough go of it the past few days, but the second I saw you posted something new my day got a little bit better. Thanks very much.❤
I'm really glad I was able to help out. Hope things turn around for you!
what a great idea for a series! I can't wait to see more! ...I was that kid.
Hehe! Looking forward to doing them! Thanks for the comment.
Travis, I can’t thank you enough for being a bastion of hope and knowledge for us weird, spider people.
I’ve studied spiders for years, and they’re my favorite creatures, but I could listen to anything you make, man, you’re just that infectious. :)
Aw, thanks so much!
@@travismcenery2919 No problem, man, if you ever need suggestions for spiders, we have lots of orb weavers and cat faced spiders in Oregon, and I think they’re just the most incredible species we have here; not to mention, I believe there’s been studies done on orb weavers (I’m on lunch, and on time crunch, so I’m sorry I can’t find the detailed studies off hand) and their ability to determine probability odds, based on prey catch patterns in their webs.
If it’s not orb weavers, I apologize, but I do recall seeing the study at some point, and the results are pretty crazy, because the spiders would basically ignore repairing portions of their webs, in favor of high prey traffic areas… so… spiders other than jumping spiders certainly display a degree of long-term or complex pattern recognition.
Cheers, mate, and once again, thank you for all you do. :)
I'm looking forward to learning more about the different spider body types. But the whole series sounds fascinating. Can't wait for the next video.
Glad to hear you're looking forward to it, and thanks!
I am on UA-cam almost daily. Seeing a new spider video from my favorite NF person is like winning a scratch off ticket. We both know there is no comparison to winning the lottery.
Thanks so much, that means a lot to hear!
A new video intro jingle? Yippee! : D
Thank you for the awesome and informative video, and definitely looking forward to the series. I'm especially looking forward to the next episode about the ecological impact that spiders have on our planet. I've always been fascinated by spiders, so naturally I find your videos very interesting and informative. Love what you do man.🕷️❤️
Thanks so much. I'm looking forward to putting that video together, and I'm glad you're enjoying the channel so much.
@@travismcenery2919 You're very welcome, and I greatly appreciate the work you do. I've always had a love and fascination with spiders since I was a small child, and it's a true blessing to learn more about them, especially reputable facts. Thank you for doing what you do.🕷️❤️
Your amateur arachnology rocks!
Thanks!
2:52 Excellent excellent, been so looking forward to this and as always' brilliant. I've already learned a lot of stuff about spiders. Thanks Travis 🕸️🕷️
You're very welcome, and thank you! Looking forward to doing the rest of the series!
After I started following this channel, just walking around my local area has become endlessly more fun. Now I'm always on the lookout for different kinds of spiders and I always bring my field guide with me when I go out, just in case I find something new to identify. And when I'm at home I'm never bored - there are always spiders to be found. Thanks, man!
Spiders are in-fact our friends, and I'm so glad for people like you on the internet spreading that fact.
I thank you for all of the presentations which I have seen you give, and I enjoy the quirky comments too!
Thanks so much, and you're welcome!
Nice vid. Love your style and love to watch everything you do! Thank you for branching out to provide us with more content!❤
You're very welcome! Glad you're enjoying it.
I was thinking about you today actually!
I came across a video game creature (FFXIV Yarzon) and I realized that it looks similar to a harvester. And you know what? That means it’s not Loxosceles! xD
Haha! Yeah, some video game "spider-esque" creatures are pretty creatively designed.
I hope your channel blows up! Glad to have found you. Thanks!
Glad to have you here, and thank you!
This video was randomly suggested by youtube and I'm so glad. Great video! Subscribed. Cant wait for the rest!
I am so excited! Question: When you get to Habitats or the Life Cycle, could you address spider relocation? Specifically where to put spiders found inside the home if you want then outside your home? I saw a short recently that said all spiders removed from homes die, and while I know the vast, VAST majority of spiders do live their whole lives outside a house, I'd be interested to know what might cause the majority of those deaths [old age? Birds? Lack of shelter?] But a little heads up on where to place spiders such as in the sun/shade, on a branch, on the ground, near some leaves or rotten wood, etc. would be so useful and interesting to know.
This is a great question. I suspect this is a difficult thing to study, but I'll check to see if I can find any data on it!
Awesome, thanks for the new series
You're most welcome, and thanks for the comment!
Can’t wait! Seriously, very excited for this series.
I’ve been a documentary buff for as long as I can remember and this kind of series is, in my opinion, long overdue. 😄
I’ll try to sum this up: For every cool animal adaptation or ability a docu-series highlights, there’s quite often a spider that excels in that area as well (with a few exceptions like true flight or the truly aquatic), but that’s almost never mentioned.
On the subject of disturbing depictions of spiders… If you search for the keywords “tarantula” or “spider” in the Canva app, most of the results are comically terrifying…
So-called “spiders” with too many legs and no pedipalps, too few legs, bizarre conglomerations of eyes, three-segment bodies, bodies arranged more like scorpion bodies with spider features, spiders with beetle heads, legs protruding from the back of the abdomen and no spinnerets, pincers that look designed for leaf cutting instead of chelicerae… The list goes on. Lol Many generally just look like a 5-year-old drew a spider from memory. It was horrifying. 😂
I literally did a happy dance! So excited to have another opportunity to see great info presented so well!
yes!! let the series begin..
YAYAYAYAY!! What a TERRIFIC idea, Travis! Thanx so much! I'm all in for the whole series: may spider facts never cease!
I am such an arachnophobe, and you are completely helping! Keep this up, I love your videos!
This was terrific! I just love your humor and information! Thanks!
You're very welcome, and thank you!
excellent work as always
Thanks so much!
Excellent idea for a series! I've enjoyed every single video you have shared, and you're definitely helping to moderate my arachnophobia! I'm finding them fascinating, and I'm glad for the education. Thank you!
You're most welcome, and thank you! I'm looking forward to doing this series.
There's always room for more spider content 🕷️ 🕸️
Indeed there is!
Fantastic series! I’m hooked erm…nailed erm…palped? 🕷️ 🔀
There's a super expensive textbook about spiders that I wanted so badly. Amazon wanted an arm, a leg, and 7 more legs plus my egg sac if I had one, which I don't. I can't read print like that anymore now, so I'm very grateful for you for doing this. Please don't dumb it down too terribly much? I think many of your fans know the most basic stuff and can go at it like it's a college class...full of spiders!
Is it Biology of Spiders? I have a copy - great book.
I'm guessing you're referring to Rainer Foelix's Biology of Spiders. It's amazing, and it's actually going to be my primary reference for this series.
@@travismcenery2919 I am SUPER excited then. My eyesight is too weak to read such text, and the book is probably too heavy for me now, so this is going to be so great and improve my mood tremendously. Remember folks, as long as you're learning, you aren't REALLY old on the inside!
@@amicaaranearum It is!
This is lovely! I'm looking forward to the whole series.
Thanks so much, I'm looking forward to making it!
Well done Travis. One of the other channels that I watch is 'Dave's Littlke Beasties', a UK guy who has a collection of mainly mygalomorphs, and posts quite a few pairing videos. Fascinating to watch.
Spider nerds like ourselves will always dig knowledge about arachnids. 😂
Thanks so much! And I've seen him before, too. Fascinating stuff.
HIP HIP HOORAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TRAVIS MCENERY UPLOAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yay! New series! Love your videos. 40k subscribers now! Congrats!
Thanks so much, and glad you're enjoying the channel!
the editing is so well done on these hats off to you for making such amazing content
The new shoooowwww! This makes my day. Thank you once again.
You're most welcome, and thank you!
this is such good stuff with such good humour, algorithm please blow this up
Been into bugs + arachnids all my life, still gna watch because this is some of the best bug content on yt :D
That means a lot to hear, thank you!
I look forward to these videos, I'm so excited!
As a side note, I want to put Clint's Reptiles on your radar. He is a evolutionary biologist and I don't think he specializes in spiders but he has an amazing wealth of knowledge about a lot of different species (and the pet reptile community is realistically an "exotic pets" community with a special interest in reptiles). Hes actually been doing ontology videos for several years and has a spider video.
I admit to be afraid of most spiders, but I love them. I started working on my fear several years ago. Now, I am interested in them. Bless the spider kingdom!!!❤
omg i’m so excited for this series!!! I love spiders so much :D I haven’t found any information about spiders that is both accurate&informative and accessible&engaging - most of the sources i’ve found are either massive walls of text (usually without photos or clear diagrams) or they’re cool videos but more focused on shock value (idk a good word for that lol) w/o much scientific information - so im very glad I found your channel and thank you for making this video!!!
You're very welcome! I'm glad to see the enthusiasm for this series, and what you described is exactly the reason I've decided to do it. Thanks so much!
babe wake up, the new travis spider vid dropped
i've always been really scared of spiders, but this has really helped me understand them. thank you for such an informative and fun video!!
You are so welcome!
Looking forward to the series, I've always had a soft spot for our spider friend. Hopefully this reaches enough people to break the terror usually associated with spiders.
Hopefully! Thanks for the comment!
This video popped up on my google feed, and I only clicked on it for my 5yo not expecting to learn much. Maybe a little for me because I was one of those people who corrected others like a nerd about it. Still learned some stuff. I'm interested in the rest of the series and will stay tuned, going to check out your other videos now
So stoked for the rest of the series! I'd also love to see a video on the non-spider arachnids if that's of any interest to you
Very excited to see the rest of this series. Keep up the good work!
I didn't know that sperm transfer with palps was unique to spooders!! Love this series already.
Even though they're not spiders, I do hope you can do a video sometime about harvestmen, they've always fascinated me. Also, I think this is your first new video since I subscribed!
I may do that down the line. I know very little about harvestmen, but they're becoming more interesting to me.
Been catching up with all your videos. I want to mention a big hug to your wife for helping you with all the work that goes into making these videos as well as all the professionals who are involved with your channel. I would like to add a suggested idea for a future video. Is it possible to film a spider weaving a web? Thank all the spiders for sharing their lives with us. ❤
Hi Travis. Thanks for another interesting video. It's refreshing to listen to a natural intelligent voice on UA-cam, without the "what's happening" and "you guy's" malarkey. I'm hoping you'll cover the molting process in a future video .
Yup, I'll cover molting in more detail when I get to the life cycle episode. Glad you're enjoying the channel, and thanks!
just found your channel and i love it a ton!!! I've been calling myself a "Junior Arachnologist" for the last three years haha. as a very brief summary (believe it or not lmao) of the last 4 years-
diagnosed with an incredibly rare, incurable cancer (0.00006% of the population, less than 4,800 worldwide) that started in my brain at 31>unalived briefly after surgery while in a coma>moved to the country because my fiance and i couldn't live on one salary>decided that life is too short to sweat the small stuff and, as it happens, sometimes those things are actually little. arachnophobia begone!
i went from a huge arachnophobe to having kept 39 tarantulas, an Eresus walckenaeri, a mature female Latrodectus mactans, two Lycosidae, Many jumping spiders, and even keeping a dubia colony to feed them all. most of my mature males are gone now except for my Tliltocatl albopilosus who matured A YEAR AND A HALF AGO. such an old man. he was my second tarantula i ever got (at the end of 2021).
getting over my arachnophobia has been one of the best things i have ever done. thanks for your effort to help educate others about them.
Love you videos! Very informative and done with humor.
Thanks so much!
Looking forward to the new series!
Thanks, looking forward to making it!
Wonderful education. Thanks.
I became a fan of spiders. There was a wolf spider which lives in my bedroom when I was in high school. I have always been a science NERD. Above spider appeared over 3 years. It lived in a hole in the wall. I saw it daily except in winter.
5:28 I love the anatomically incorrect Halloween decorations - so wrong they’re charming.
I know, right? ;)
I absolutely LOVE this channel! ♥🕷🕸
Thanks so much!
Already i can tell this dude is going to help answer all my burning questions. Incredible work! Thank you
You're very welcome, and thank you! Hope I can live up to your expectations!
10:40 Many psuedoscorpions do actually have venom though. It’s a really unique venom delivery system too- they have venom glands in their pedipalpal chelae and it is delivered through either the fixed finger, the movable finger, or even both, depending on the species. They’re harmless to humans, but it is an incredible evolutionary adaptation!
Thanks for this! Yup, a few commenters have corrected me on this - some pseudoscorpions have no venom, but many do. So I'll need to address that in a future video!
I clicked the link on accident but that lil song at the start got me watching the whole thing
Awesome!! Excited to see the rest of the series.
The daddy long-legs myth is based around the Cellar Spider, which is also nicknamed daddy long-legs in a lot of places in the US. Mythbusters actually tested it even!
Except, it’s not true about them either. They _can_ bite and their venom is not medically significant
@@normalhuman9878 I should have specified more, Mythbusters tested that exact thing lol. Adam Savage managed to get one to bite him and it did basically nothing.
There’s really only 3.5 species of spider that can kill you:
1) the Sydney funnel web
2) the brown recluse (their bites can cause sepsis if left untreated)
3) and the Brazilian wanderer
The last type would be Latrodectus spp. although black widow spider deaths are rare
Black widows can SCARE me to death with one look! 😉
The six-eyed sand spider is up there, too. But the overwhelming majority of spiders can't do serious harm to humans.
I think my family is used to the regular deluge of spider facts..... at least I hope they are cuz it's not stopping anytime soon 😂
My “swear” jar is almost empty, but my “talking about spiders when no one asked” jar is full.
That's the spirit!
I look forward to the series
This was a really fun video. I can see a lot of people benefiting from it. I certainly did, in a fun way. I had just come home with a cat skeleton Halloween decoration and my girlfriend said "i love how the skull has ears even though a cat doesn't have them." I said "yeah, its got about 5 times as many ribs too. Ya know, its Halloween. Hell, I've even seen spider skeletons, think about that for a second. Oh, remember the _siders in your house_ guy? He just made a vide that might mention how there are no bones in spiders." And you were everything I needed right then. Plus saying the basics like "cephalothorax" and "petapalps" before you said it, while moving my arms in waves as close to my face as possible seemed to impress her like petapalps should 😂
Glad you enjoyed it! And waving pedipalps should always be impressive if you do it the right way. ;)
👏👏👏 So excited for this new series!!
Haha man i enjoy the text over image of spider, as if the spider is internal monologging
Glad you like those details!
As always, just great!
Thank you so much!
Enjoyed the opening jingle so I instantly subscribed 🙂
Yay! Spiders!
Threads?!? That's a dad joke, right? This was great! Looking forward to this series.
I'm hoping for an in-depth explanation of book lungs, and how spiders cope with rain. Also, I remember hearing somewhere that they are the first animals to colonize newly-formed volcanic islands. Can this be true, or do insects get there first? Thanks for all your research!
Noted! I'll discuss book lungs when I get to anatomy, and I'll check on the colonization thing.
10:38 I'm pretty sure pseudoscorpions are venomous, or at least the majority of them.
Yes, they have it in their "claws"...
Turns out you are correct! I'll need to address this at some point. I see that some pseudoscorpions are venomous and some are not. Thanks for pointing it out!
It only took me 3 days after discovering this series to start bringing up spider facts with my significant other unasked.
Talking about flying spider back in 1985 there was a cartoon called Sectaurs and the bad guys rode on giant spiders.
Yes it's not flying, but imagine a Tarantula so big you can ride it.
That would be so much fun...