How Do Spiders Spin Their Webs?
1 Spiders spin webs that may be twenty times their own size. The fragile-looking strands of silk that make up the webs are as strong as steel and more flexible. We couldn’t do that! 2 How do spiders do it? Scientists would love to know all of the details. 3 Spiders seem to know how by instinct. We don’t see baby spiders learning and practicing the steps, but what they can produce is amazing. Spiders create a variety of webs including orb webs, sheet webs, funnel webs, and spooky-looking cobwebs. Orb webs are the classic wheel-shaped webs that you would probably draw if someone told you to draw a quick spider web. Sheet webs are large, flat webs that you might see draped over a bush. Funnel webs are flat webs with a funnel for the spider to hide and wait for its prey in the middle, and cobwebs are the raggedy-looking ones that you might see in the corner of an attic or a barn. 4 Spiders produce the silk thread for their webs using their spinnerets. Spinnerets are located under the spide
Everybody has seen a spider’s web, and admired the skull which the spider has in web making. We know that the substance used in web making is silk, which the spider makes, and that it uses this silk not only for webs but for a whole variety of other purposes. We also know that the type of web varies very much from spider to spider, but have you ever wondered how the spider spins this silk? In the spider’s belly, or abdomen, are certain glands which produce the silk as a liquid. At the tip of the abdomen are spinning organs, which have many holes in them. The liquid silk is forced through these tiny holes, making it very fine and delicate, and then on contact with the air the silk becomes solid. There are different sorts of silk for different purposes – best known is the sticky silk used in webs to trap the insects which the spider eats. Then there is the non-sticky, stronger silk for the spokes of the web, which the spider used to walk along – had you ever wondered why the spider never
