If I asked you to imagine a spider, what would be your first thought? For most people, that imaginary creature would be solid, black and hairy, with long legs and piercing fangs, perhaps skittering about in the depths of a dark cave.
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I’d like to suggest an alternative to what the archetypal spider looks like. First, it’s small and fluffy, with an adorable pair of large, round, glossy eyes. Its legs are on the stumpy side, and it comes in a kaleidoscope of bright colours.
Imagine a rainbow-coloured kitten, shrink it down to the size of your fingertip, add a few more legs and you’re getting close. It might sound ridiculous but, statistically speaking, this should be the picture we see when we imagine a stereotypical spider.
What are jumping spiders?
Jumping spiders (Salticidae) are small, adorable and harmless, and there are more species of them than any other type of spider (over 6,000). This, the largest spider family, comprises 13 per cent of all spider species. You can find them everywhere – from your house and garden to the slopes of Everest.
Were the world a just and rational place, spiders would be adored for being, on average, endearing fluffballs as opposed to sinister monsters. Sadly, the world isn’t that place… not yet, anyway.
Jumping spiders are a stunning combination of beauty, brains and survival skills. Their quickfire pouncing movements earn them their name, and they are capable of some of the fastest movements in the animal kingdom.
Recent research shows that the acceleration of a jumping-spider pounce generates G-forces greater than a fighter jet. Thanks to a combination of viral videos, the accessibility of digital photography and, of course, the sheer charisma of these diminutive arachnids themselves, times are changing – and so are our perceptions of spiders.
Famous jumping spiders
Much of the credit for improving human-spider relationships must go to a little-known group of Australian spiders that became sudden internet celebrities.
In 2008, arachnologist Jurgen Otto used his macro-photography skills to film something that would soon take the world by storm: the mating dance of the Australian peacock spider (Maratus volans).
Males of this minute jumping spider, which measures just 4mm across, impress females with an elaborate dance. They wave their legs in rhythm, shimmy from side to side and raise their iridescent, rainbow-covered abdomens.
Otto’s video captured this behaviour for the first time, and it quickly went viral. It was the first of many, as others joined the craze, filming the dances of other peacock spiders, remixing the videos to music and adding digital maracas, batons, lightsabers and more.
At the time, only a handful of peacock spiders – around six – were known to science. But interest skyrocketed after the species was catapulted to stardom, and the number of described species has since risen to more than 100. Each species sports its own elaborate markings and performs a distinct mating dance.
Are jumping spiders intelligent?
As beautiful as jumping spiders are, they aren’t just pretty faces. Scientists have long been fascinated by their remarkable intelligence. One type of jumping spider in particular has become something of an icon in this area, and has been described as the most intelligent invertebrate on land.
Portia spiders – a genus of around 17 species – are smart because they have to be. These small, tropical spiders feed on other spiders, which often dwarf them in size. They take down their quarry not with brute force, potent venom or silken traps, but using sheer wit and intelligence.
By sight alone they can identify different types of spiders and plan an attack strategy for each particular prey. If it’s a large spider on the ground they will sneak up behind it, creep between the spider’s back legs and pounce on its back.
Now in place, they can bite directly onto their victim’s head, delivering venom straight to the brain. If it’s an orb-weaving spider in the middle of a web, they will navigate a route through the environment that places them above the web.
They’ll then lower themselves on a thread of silk, Mission: Impossible style, until they land directly on top of the orb-weaver’s head, where, once again, they can deliver the killer blow.
If that doesn’t work, Portia spiders will use the most devious trick in their arsenal. Standing on the edge of another spider’s web, these hunters delicately pluck the silk like a guitar string. Using trial and error, they find a frequency that piques the interest of the orb-weaver and draws it towards the edge of the web.
Since the orb-weaver has poor eyesight and relies on web vibrations to navigate the world, the Portia spider can remain unseen as it patiently inches its meal into the perfect position for attack.
The intelligence of Portia spiders has been tested in labs using mazes. The studies reveal that they can preplan complex routes, remember the placement of objects and even count small numbers.
This research is challenging the way we think about animal intelligence. Conventional wisdom says that to carry out complex cognitive tasks, an animal needs a large brain with lots of brain cells.
Portia spiders, however, are capable of complex and flexible behaviours with brains smaller than a pinhead.
Do jumping spiders have good eyesight?
While we have to admire the intelligence of jumping spiders, their most endearing characteristic is undoubtedly those large, glossy eyes. When presented with an image of a tiny, doe-eyed jumping spider, even a committed arachnophobe would be hard-pressed not to find it at least a little bit cute.
While many other spiders have poor vision, relying on information such as scent and vibration to navigate their worlds, jumping spiders are primarily visual. They have sharp, narrow-field vision, but cannot rotate their heads or eyes as humans do.
So, to scan their environment, the spiders must move their whole bodies. This leads to another endearing characteristic – their exaggerated movement.
As they take in the world around them, jumping spiders turn from side to side, tilt their heads in a jaunty manner and nod up and down. By piecing together snapshots of information, they can build a full and detailed picture of their environment.
When a jumping spider looks in your direction, it gives the impression of sternly looking you up and down. It’s hard not to anthropomorphise as it stares into your eyes and tilts its head, almost quizzically.
It’s easy to understand how humans could have such an affinity for these intelligent, visually oriented animals. We share those characteristics, after all.
Can jumping spiders dream?
The combination of sharp vision and large brains might be the cause of one particularly humanising phenomenon – dreaming. It’s thought that dreams are a by-product of our brains processing the immense amount of visual information we receive while awake. This is why dreaming is associated with rapid eye movement (REM) sleep patterns, as our eyes react to the images we are ‘seeing’ in dreams.
Jumping spiders, with their big eyes and capable brains, may experience something similar. Scientists have documented REM-like sleep behaviours in Evarcha arcuata, found from Europe to east Asia.
These spiders sleep hanging from a line of silk. During sleep they twitch their legs and their tube-like eyes swing side-to-side inside their heads. This behaviour is so similar to mammalian REM sleep that it is very likely to be proof of spider dreams.
The jumping spider had already taken over the world before it took over the internet. There’s something about these species that gives them an evolutionary edge. Their combination of senses, intelligence and overall body plan has led to them diverging into thousands of species that can survive almost anywhere on land.
How diverse are jumping spiders?
The green ant-hunter (Cosmophasis bitaeniata), for example, somehow manages to live among swarming green tree ant colonies, where it sneakily eats developing ant larvae, while a south-east Asian jumping spider (Paracyrba wanlessi) makes its home in the damp hollows of fallen bamboo stems, where it feeds on developing mosquitoes.
Then there’s the Himalayan jumping spider (Euophrys omnisuperstes), which pushes the very limits of jumping spider survival. This species can only be found thousands of metres above sea level on the snow-packed slopes of the Himalayas. No other animal on Earth has been found living permanently at such high altitudes.
Changing attitudes
In recent decades we’ve witnessed attitudes to nature changing rapidly. The droning buzz of bees once warned of a swarming, stinging menace, but now seems to be the welcome chorus of spring.
Other insects, worms and creepy-crawlies are increasingly becoming appreciated as crucial components of thriving ecosystems. Is it possible that spiders are next? Could they make the transition from being the stuff of nightmares to trusty household companions?
These days you can look around a toy shop aisle and find colourful, glittery eyed jumping spider plushies. The children’s cartoon Lucas the Spider follows what might be one of the most saccharinely cute animated characters ever created.
And one only needs to open a smartphone to access infinite streams of jumping spider content captured by small armies of passionate spider fanciers.
Spiders are still the most feared animal on the planet, but our relationship with nature continues to change, and changes fast.
A true testament of this progression will be whether our relationship with spiders, and our preconceptions of them, finally catches up with reality.
It starts here with jumping spiders, with their bright colours, expressive faces and fascinating behaviours. They are the charismatic gateway to a world of eight-legged wonders.
Top image: a male peacock jumping spider. Credit: Robbie Goodall/Getty Images
