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Post by X factor on Oct 12, 2013 10:47:28 GMT -5
I stepped out onto deck this morning...and saw a web on lawn chair...and followed the single strand to point where it branched off and became apart of more complicated pattern. I was at first going to destroy it, and the spider I saw in the web...but then became of awe, as I began to appreciate what that spider had done...engineering beyond my comprehension. In scale...it would be like a human dangling a rope or string from central park New York, and then some how attaching it to tall sky scraper 1 mile away. I have no idea how spider did it. And with such a small brain, how it could even remember, or have capacity to think out such a feat. It's a web spider, and I believe of this species here 'Gasteracantha' species...Usually very colorful, this one seems to be a smaller breed, and mainly dark, black or brown, to small to tell. Their life spans are very short, weeks for the males, and for the female, as soon as they lay eggs, they're done. But they are master engineers at spinning webs...and is why the one on my deck 'lives'...or at least wasn't forcibly relocated...cause I was taken aback at it's engineering. To be so small...yet to have a built in understanding of mechanical engineering, just amazes me. I don't like spiders...but have a bit more tolerance for slow moving web kinds, the kind that once they build a web, stay put. It's the roaming type of spiders I still can't stand. |
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Post by X factor on Oct 12, 2013 11:06:44 GMT -5
It also amazing me how so much silk fits inside of these small spiders...I mean if I were to roll up the silk from this web, the silk would be larger in mass than the spider that spun it...
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Post by X factor on Oct 13, 2013 16:55:09 GMT -5
That one odd spider...it's web got messed up...and so rebuilt a new one today...engineering feats I just don't understand...I leave it alone, simply because I'm marveled by it's web spinning abilities...
Even though it's a bit inconvient for me...since web is attached to one of two chairs on deck.
But I figure if this little creature is that determined to build a master piece web, who am I to disturb it or destroy it...
Odd azz spider...I'm sure if I was it's size and fell into it's web, it would eat me, drain me of my blood, liquefy my insides...
But still...even knowing that...I'm in awe of the creature...and allow it to exist on me deck...
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Post by X factor on Oct 14, 2013 15:08:48 GMT -5
This spiders still on deck...and has spun 3 different webs since I first wrote about it. Since it has not relocated, it has allowed me to make some observations... 1. Spiders learn...they learn what works and what doesn't. It's latest and greatest web is anchored more securely than the previous two, which must of kept blowing apart in the wind or something, or heavy insects... But today when I came it, this new web is larger, and anchored in a much more sturdy manner...wish I could take a picture of it...but background is light, so not sure if it would come out visisble. Bottom line to this post is that through trial and error, this 8 legged mechanical engineer has spun it's best, most sturdy web design to date. Again, for some scale, it would be like a human spinning silk from rear, across sky scrapers, or cliffs, a mile apart, and then climbing to top and anchoring it... And spiders have no calculators, don't know math...yet they do what engineers spend years in college for. Like select intelligence...and I find it amazing...and is why I allow spider to do it's thing...cause I'm learning from it. Like Charletes web or something...  Now if this spider starts spelling out words, then I'll really be impressed... |
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Post by X factor on Jul 11, 2014 13:26:57 GMT -5
Spiders don't stand a good chance around where I stay, in that there are hundreds of spider killing Wasps flying around everywhere and looking for spiders to paralyze, capture and feed to young.  These Wasps fly around wreaking havoc on my nightmares, which are spiders. Sorry, I just don't, not now, nor will I ever, like spiders, never. (with the exception of 1-4 species that are small, and always stay in web and catch house hold insects). Other than that, all spiders must go, as far as I'm concerned, and love the fact that now, finally at last, there's something more nightmarish to them than they are to me, and that is these odd Wasps that just seem to delight in tormenting the hell out of spiders...  In above pic, spider chews the heck out of stupid spider, that has preyed upon and terrified countless other insects, then Wasp comes along and makes chop suey out of it. Best thing about it is spider is still alive, just paralyzed by Wasp venom. So the spider has to sit there, paralyzed, unable to move, and watch as Wasp dismantles it's body, then fly's it away to nest, packs it in, lays eggs, and leaves. Pay back, as far as I'm concerned, pay back for all the times spiders have horrified others, for all the times spiders have refused to show mercy to their own victims, for all the butterflies they've caught in webs and killed. Pay back I tell you. Bees, on the other hand, aren't really spider killers, regular bees don't specialize in hunting spiders. Bees often become prey to spiders cause they don't specialize in fighting them. |
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Post by X factor on Aug 2, 2014 13:27:54 GMT -5
 click to enlarge This Dragon Fly insisted on posing for camera as I took these shots...
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Post by X factor on Jan 26, 2019 18:51:06 GMT -5
This non venomous creature explained
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Post by X factor on Feb 24, 2019 23:19:36 GMT -5
I don't get that one caciada insect, like how it spends the first 17 years of it's life asleep underground, then emerges for a few days, mates and dies....I mean what kind of a life cycle is that?
It would be like a human spending the first 20 years, after birth, in a coma, and then waking up at around 20, mating, and then passing away a few days or hours later.
What kind of life cycle is that about?
Is the long sleep have to do with back when the dinosaurs went extinct and the enviornment was harsh?...
Who knows, just yet another mystery of this planet I guess.
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Post by X factor on Jun 23, 2020 19:55:21 GMT -5
Insects are just creepy, period  Insects are just creepy, period, they just are. Especially if live in humid tropical area, cause there they grow extra large, jumbo sized. And another odd things about insects is they have eyes, but they don't blink, so they're like always awake. Always staring at environment, always waiting for next meal, which could be you, as in sucking your blood or biting. And you can't reason with them, cause they have no emotions other fan fight or flight. You can't like say 'hey, how was your day', to an insect. Insects don't care about civil rights or anything like that, and barely tolerate their own young. Maybe that's about the only time insects show the tiniest bit of humanity, is when caring for their young. But once their own young leave back, or nest or web, then they simply become food. It would be like showing back up at your parents house, after grown, and your parents eating you. OK.
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Post by X factor on Sept 4, 2020 9:07:59 GMT -5
Fire ants
As leaving car yesterday at job, noticed 1000's of fire ants in door jam, 1000's.
They're tiny, fast and very hyper active, as if on Basum salts or something.
I didn't have time to do anything, so I just closed the door.
Came back following morning and they were gone, at least out of door jam area, they either moved into other part of vehicle, or retreated back to the ground over night.
I think the cars metal is just to hot for survival, and not sure why dumb queen ant would decide a car is a good place to start a colony.
It's been one of those days, ants of all things, then left phone at work...good grief and not going back to get it...told person to tuck it away, I'll get it later...not driving back out there, no way.
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Post by X factor on Sept 14, 2020 5:23:45 GMT -5
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Post by X factor on Jun 10, 2021 2:53:03 GMT -5
Just happened to look up at ceiling
I don't even know what the F this 'thing' was, but it's gone now.
Like some sick bug creature trying to sneak up on me once turned lights off.
two, but one was smaller, have it in a jar, the larger one used freagin raid on.
Like some kind of a giant tic or something, I don't know, just know was on ceiling in bedroom, as if just waiting for lights to go off so it could feed.
Whatever it is, or was, it's gone now and down the toilet, homey don't play that.
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Post by X factor on Jun 10, 2021 2:57:36 GMT -5
Insects just seem alien to me, such one track minds, and sometimes I wonder if different 'creators' didn't create different life forms, as in
1. Human creator
2. Bird creator
3. Reptile creator
4. Insect creator
5. Virus and micro creator
I mean did one creator create all the various forms of life on Earth that seem to conflict with each other?
Or were there several creators competing to see which creation would dominate and win?
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Post by X factor on Jun 10, 2021 2:59:14 GMT -5
I'd be a total sissy in the jungle, with bugs and sh-t everywhere, and nothing but raw skin to protect against?, as in tribes, which all of our ancestors come from, no way man, not sure how I would of made it.
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Post by X factor on Jul 2, 2021 22:06:14 GMT -5
Had ants in place a few days ago, here's what I did  Here's the thing about ants, they're very efficient, all they want is food, which equals crumbs ect, once food supply gone, so are they. Had stream of ants in place last week, sure could of sprayed chemical spray and killed, but why? Once they ate up crumbs, colony gone. If anything they did me a favor. Ants are nothing more than biological garbage disposals...so don't panic the next time you see line of ants in place.
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