Spiderwoman Eats Spiderman
Spiders are hungry animals.
A lot of their time they spend hunting or weaving nets to capture prey. The prey can even be a male spider, devoured by a female spider of teh same species.
There are a lot of subtleties to this spousal cannibalism. Sometimes the female eats the male after mating, when, genetically speaking, the male’s job is done. Sometimes, likely when males are abundant, she devours him before an attempted mating. Some males get away, which might depend on the size of the female. Is this a powerful hunting instinct gone awry, or an adaptive development, where the body mass of the male acts as a nuptial gift, feeding the female and the pair’s future offspring? Many different options, which might be the case in some cases but not in others.
My sweetheart and I made a video showing what a dinner date could be like if we were spiders. Enjoy:
Spider Photography
Over the years I have photographed quite a few spiders. The tropical and sub-tropical places I have lived, from Okinawa to the Philippines, have provided me with ample subjects. A good macro camera setup is needed for these shots, of course. I have used my Canon 5DII with the 100 mm lens and the ring strobe; my Olympus EM1 with the 60 mm macro lens, and lately my Olympus TG6 with the super macro focus mode”. I used a tripod on some of these shots.
This is the female spider and her hubby featured in above video:
A tiny jumping spider on my fingernail:
A crab spider in our garden in Bacong, Negros Island, Philippines:
I love this shot. The veins of the leaf greatly contribute to the composition:
