![]() A recent study conducted by researchers at Cornell University has revealed something shocking: Spiders can hear you screaming from more than ten feet away! And what’s even more impressive is that spiders don’t even have ears! They sense vibrations in the air through the sensitive hairs on their legs. And up until now, it was believed that spiders could only “hear” things that were only a couple of centimeters away. The researchers, led by Gil Menda and Paul Shamble, wanted to test how good a spider’s hearing is. They experimented with a common type of jumping spider, Phidippus audax, for their experiment. They implanted microelectrodes in the heads of the spiders (the spiders weren’t harmed by this) to test when their brain fired neurons, indicating when the arachnid “heard” a sound. To test the spiders’ hearing, they clapped their hands together right next to the spider, and walked further and further away until they were about 10 feet away. Incredibly, the spider’s neurons fired even at this distance. This made the researchers “very surprised, our studies extended the range of auditory sensitivity to more than 3 meters – over 350 body lengths – for our spiders.” -Gil Menda, study co-leader. They also experimented with blocking sounds. They found that when water covered the special sensory hairs, the spiders couldn’t hear for very far. They also discovered that the spiders “froze” whenever they heard anything like a hum or buzz (80-130 hertz). Coincidentally, this is the frequency of a wingbeat of their biggest predators- parasitoid wasps and flies. Despite the fact that this study was conducted on only one type of spider, it has been found that most spiders also have the same ability to “hear.” And, the study shows that spiders evolved to be able to hear, so that they wouldn’t be eaten by predators. I think it’s very interesting that spiders can hear, despite the fact that they don’t have ears. This study is interesting to me because it shows how animals evolve to be able to stay alive. Source: https://www.dogonews.com/2016/10/27/scary-study-reveals-spiders-can-hear-you-shrieking-from-across-the-room
5 Comments
Ansa
10/31/2016 09:51:51 am
Incredible. Nice article!
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Sarah Park
10/31/2016 09:53:51 am
That's really interesting! Informative article.
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Nicole
10/31/2016 01:00:49 pm
Coolio Julio
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10/31/2016 01:00:56 pm
Hey Justine, I really enjoyed your article. I found that it was particularly interesting, and I appreciated the abnormal (in a good way) choice of topics. Very well done!
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Libby Lye
11/1/2016 11:11:10 am
I really liked your article. its so cool
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