Orb Weaver facts

While investigating facts about Orb Weaver Spider and Orb Weaver Spider Bite, I found out little known, but curios details like:

A geneticist at Utah State University has created "spider-goats." He took the gene that encodes dragline silk from an orb-weaver spider and placed it among the DNA that prompts milk production in a goat's udders. The silk produced is stronger than Kevlar and is suitable for ligament repairs.

how orb weaver spider?

Approximately 70 people spent four years in Madagascar collecting and handling over 1 million golden orb weaver spiders to use their silk in the production of an 11-by-4-foot (3.4-by-1.2m) "golden" embroidered cloth, the largest ever of it's kind.

What do orb weaver spiders eat?

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what is an orb weaver. Here are 19 of the best facts about Orb Weaver Bite and Orb Weaver Spider Facts I managed to collect.

what do orb weavers eat?

1. Some spiders are master recyclers. Orb-weavers remove their webs every morning by eating the silk. This way, protein from the silk is never wasted. They hide from predators all day and make a new web at night. I saw this myself this morning at on my balcony!

2. There's a dress made completely from the silk of Golden Orb Weaver Spiders. It took over a million spiders to produce the necessary amount of silk required over a course of 4 years and it is the only one of its kind.

3. Natural enemies of yellow warblers are snakes, squirrels, raccoons, weasels, skunks, cats, jays and crows. Webs of orb weaver spiders are death traps for the yellow warblers.

4. Artisans working with the American Natural History Museum in NYC produced an 11x4 foot tapestry from the silk of more than 1 million golden orb weaver spiders. The brilliant yellow color is natural, the fibers are not dyed.

5. That, in 2009, a wastewater treatment plant in Baltimore suffered an Orb Weaver Spider infestation of unprecedented magnitude. The population was estimated to be over 100 MILLION spiders in over 140,000 cubic feet of web. If this happened in your home you'd have 17 million spiders inside.

6. There's only one spider web farm in the world where the owners make wooden frames for orb-weaver spiders, then take the webs to preserve them and turn them into works of arthropod art. More than 16,000 webs have been collected since 1977!

7. The golden-tipped bat is a "spider-hunting specialist", feeding almost exclusively on orb-weaver spiders.

8. In 2009 workers at a Baltimore Wastewater Treatment Plant called for help to deal with a community of over 100 million Orb-Weaver Spiders which created a web that covered approximately four acres.

9. Golden Orb Weaver spiders in urban areas grow larger and carry more eggs than the same spiders in their native areas.

10. Fishermen on coasts of the indopacific ocean remove golden silk orb weaver spider webs and form them into a ball, which is thrown into the water. There it unfolds and is used to catch bait fish.

Why do orb weavers bounce?

You can easily fact check it by examining the linked well-known sources.

Pale orb weaver spiders weave orb webs which are missing a section.

More than one million golden orb-weaver spiders had their silk extracted and made into an intricately embroidered cape. - source

The function of stabilimenta (intricate web-decorations) made by orb-weaver spiders may be to attract ultra-violet sensitive insect prey. Their purpose is still subject to debate in the scientific community. Suggestions include bird scarers, mating signs, sun shades, camouflage & stabilisers. - source

A wasp from Costa Rica has certain toxins that when used on an orb weaver spider it essentially becomes a "zombie slave" and living host for its offspring.

About Darwin's bark spider which can produce the largest orb weaver webs. These webs are capable of spanning across rivers. - source

When do orb weaver eggs hatch?

Darwin's bark spider can produce some of the largest orb weaver webs, ranging from 900 to 28,000 square centimeters. These webs can span across rivers.

How to get rid of spiny orb weaver spiders?

The male orb weaver spider rubs the female's back when mating to soothe her to avoid being eaten afterwards. 40% of the time, it doesn't work.