Spiders: Fact & Myth

FACT MYTH: SPIDER S FACT Many people are afraid of spiders, but women are more likely to be arachnophobic 3.5-6.1% Women are roughly twice as likely to be afraid of spiders than men And full-on Arachnophobia affects only 3.5 to 6.1 percent of the population MYTH Spiders come into homes in the fall to get out of the cold Don't like the idea of spiders hatching in your home? Dust and vacuum thoroughly <5%. to remove spiders, webs, and egg sacs and be sure to dispose of the vacuum bag in a container Fewer than 5% of spiders are both indoor and outdoor species outdoors In fact, those spiders you've noticed are probably matured spiderlings looking for mates and they've been living in your house all along MYTH That large, hairy spider that just ran across your living room is a wolf spider 6. 10 11 12 10 11 Wolf spiders are usually an outdoor species, so it's most likely an innocuous giant house spider Fun fact: the giant house spider is one of the fastest spiders in the world and can run at a speed of 1.73 feet per second MYTH You swallow an average of 4-6 spiders per year in your sleep There are currently no records in any scientific or medical literature of people swallowing spiders in their sleep If this were true, an American with an average lifespan of 78.8 years would have swallowed around 314.8 to 472.2 spiders in their lifetime FACT Almost all North American spiders are venomous Technically, 99.6% of N. American spiders are venomous, but few are actually dangerous to humans The most common types of venomous spiders are the: BLACK WIDOW BROWN RECLUSE HOBO SPIDER Found in Central and Found throughout the U.S. Found in the Northwest Southern U.S. (dangerous) (dangerous) (not dangerous) FACT Don't like spiders in All spiders produce silk, but not all of them build webs to catch their prey your home? Use a water hose or broom to Only about half of spider species build webs regularly destroy any "Orb webs" (the round geometric spider web) are not the most common type either (other kinds: sheet web, funnel web, and cobweb) webs that are constructed Sheet on or around Web Cob Web the house. Spiders often move elsewhere when their webs are regularly destroyed Funnel Web FACT Spider silk can be tougher than Kevlar The toughest known spider silk is produced by the Darwin's bark spider (Caerostris darwini), whose silk is over 10 times tougher than Kevlar 10 X Kevlar Darwin's Bark Spider Silk Porch SOURCES: [1] http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=22276624 [2] http://www.burkemuseum.org/spidermyth/myths/comein.html [3] http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2060.html BROUGHT TO YOU BY: www.porch.com [4] http://www.burkemuseum.org/spidermyth/myths/insidewolf.html (5] http://www.burkemuseum.org/spidermyth/myths/whileyousleep.html [6] http://www.cals.uidaho.edu/edcomm/pdf/BUL/BUL0871.pdf [7] http://webworldwonders.firn.edu/cameras/saw_grass/enviro/spiderintro.htm [8] http://www.burkemuseum.org/spidermyth/myths/webs.html (9] http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2060.html [10] http://dx.doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0011234