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Spider Discovered That Builds Its Own Spider Decoys
OakDragon writes "A newly discovered species of spider — apparently of the genus Cyclosa — has been discovered in the Peruvian Amazon. The spider builds an elaborate decoy out of web, twigs, and other scraps, which appears to be a much larger spider. The spider will even cause the decoy to move, marionette-style, by shaking the web."
it builds a monument of its spider god ? our next overlord
for some reason, the thing I'm marveling at the most is that it knows it has 8 legs. How?!
Why not 6 or 7? ...because 7, 8, 9?
Kinda like the movie Mimic...
Damn nature you scary!
evolution.
Not only did this spider decided it needed a bigger version of itself to scare off would be predators, it knew it had to make it move to look be really effective.
I know people who aren't even this smart.
Be seeing you...
Someone should check if the spiders were doing this before 1996, because I bet they stole the idea from Duke 3D.
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
that makes miniature models of factories.
because I don't want to live in this planet anymore. We as a human race are losing the war against the evolving arachnids.
I'm going to do the same to ward off other people.
*builds giant man in garden out of wicker*
To do something right, you often have to roll up your sleeves and get busy.
Is does the spider know that what it's built looks like it? This could have evolved to look like a spider from a predators perspective but the spider probably has no idea what its making.
If it serves a purpose, it's not art.
Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
"know" is such a weird word really.
...why we are discussing the spider instead of brainstorming ways to wipe them from existence. Seriously, a spider that builds fucking decoys? That exceeds the threshold for me being comfortable with it as a species. And before you scream "you're just prejudice against spiders!" I'll have you know that the day my friend's chow builds a life-size German Shepard in her living room I'll be the first one grabbing for a shotgun. It takes effort to stay on top of the pyramid of edible shit, we can't afford to get complacent.
.... take off and nuke it from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.
But what happens when that spider discovers tar, makes an ersatz spider out of it, drinks too much, and fights with it?
In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
The definition of art that you're using was created by humans. If animals defined "art" it'd be totally different and human art wouldn't qualify. Same thing goes with defining intelligence (e.g. humans smart, tree stupid). For all we know, the spider's decoy may be art, an actual decoy, a "god", or a mating call, who knows? Applying human-centric beliefs kind of skews your judgement though.
I'm pretty sure the spider has seen other spiders before. Like it's mother and siblings and mates. Or looking in the reflection of water. I'm not knowledgeable enough in arachnid neurology to know the extent of mental awareness of spiders but I'm pretty sure it can make a pretty good guess at what it looks like.
However, if you mean the spider is just putting sticks and debris there in the web out of instinct and puts no conscious effort into it, I may concede that point to you.
Let me know when it writes "radiant" and I'll be impressed
So this fake spider might scare off other preys, but wouldn't it also scare off it's food?
-- By all means let's be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out.
This seems to be a complete non-sequitur, unless you're unstated argument is that questions of the form "is X an example of Y" should be answered on the basis of speculative alternative definitions of Y, rather than the actual definition of Y which is the basis of the question.
Spiders aren't insects. They are arachnids (both insects and arachnids are arthropods.)
Then there is no such thing as art.
Free Martian Whores!
No more than a regular spider web is art.
/* No Comment */
How is what I said illogical? If we use human-derived definitions they are inherently human-centric. I was replying to the AC who said "the definition of art" to the question posed in the post above his/her reply that asked "Says who?"
It might be the same reason that Nigerian scamers still say they are from Nigeria: Animals that are scared of big spiders stay away, while insects that ignore spiders get caught by the web.
If animals defined "art" it'd be totally different
You mean some animals other than humans.
If it is a learned behaviour then it can not be "encoded ... into its genes". Some spider species care for their young. I do not know about this species in particular, but it is posible that the knowledge could be passed from one generation to the next through example. At any rate, this is either instinctual, a sign of generational (cultural) learning, or a demonstration of the intellect (reasoning skills) of these spiders. All the comments on this forum about how this is a sign of the wonders of evolution are simply wrong. It would be like saying that we are evolving everytime we create a new type of transportation.
"For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice" -- God
While you may be right that this spider doesn't,
is way wrong.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_test#Animal_Species_Capable_of_Passing
Looking for that I also came across this sentence:
Hah, this is now outdated information! Spiders are actually the *first* creature (we know of to date) to post decoys of themselves on the intrawebs, while humans are kinda late to the game.
How do they know that's a decoy? I've seen other spiders that put stuff in their web. I remember a big black and yellow spider in the garden when I was a kid that had something similar. I speculated that it was there to help prevent birds from flying into it and destroying the web. In this case, the spidery appearance of the junk in the web appears to follow from the fact that the junk has been stuck to the strands of the web, which radiate out from the center much like the legs of a spider.
It proposes, in its general form, that a question should be answered based on something other than what the words in the question mean, but based on how some other entities who are the subject of the question might define the words; this is aggravated by the fact that the entities in question in the specific framing are ones which we have no reason to believe (and plenty of reason not to believe) have the ability to process the kind of abstract ideas that would let them define any words in any case.
Its as if I pointed to a green leaf on a tree and asked if it was blue, and someone responded with "Well, your definition of blue is human-centric. How would the tree define blue? Maybe the leaf is blue, and and maybe its red. We don't really know." Instead of "No, dude, the leaf is green."
First, this is grossly off-topic.
Second, its also grossly wrong. Adjusted for inflation, $30k in 1997 is equivalent to $43k in 2012. The latest year for which your "$60k now is less than $30k then" is true is 1987.
I think we've gotten off track a bit. Someone previously asked, "Is this the first example of animal art?" A few replies went back and forth saying it wasn't art due to the definition of what "art" is. Humans don't think it's art but maybe it is art to the spiders. Kind of akin to you and I looking at a painting and us each taking opposing views of whether or not the painting were "art."
one or more of the following: - irate baby-mamas - process servers - loan sharks - Jehova's witnesses - the crack spider At least that's the impression that I get from watching this related video
The decoy was built by the creatures in the next bush over. Three poison arrow frogs behind a blind, aiming at the spider coming up behind the decoy.
Right, so we should wait for the spiders's judgement?
You should be careful asking such questions. Oh, AC! Nevermind then, carry on.
On second thought.... I hope you are further anonymized.
So are these spiders herbivores? Because otherwise it would seem that having a giant spider decoy hanging in your web would be counter-productive for a carnivorous diet.
Got the creepy crawlies now!