- 2 days ago
In this natural history Halloween special Professor Alice Roberts overcomes her arachnophobia to enter a house filled with hundreds and hundreds of spiders. Inside she meets spider-loving entomologist, Tim Cockerill, who quickly immerses Alice in the wonders of web building, the secrets of fly-catching and the dangerous spider-eat-spider world they inhabit. Using innovative macro photography, and collaborating with some of Britain's best arachnologists, this one-off ninety minute documentary for BBC4 reveals the secret life of spiders in the home....
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AnimalsTranscript
00:00:22We're approaching this house with a real mixture of trepidation and curiosity.
00:00:29Within its walls, there's something extraordinary happening.
00:00:36But at the same time, it feels like I'm stepping into a horror film.
00:00:41Because this house has been filled with hundreds and hundreds of spiders.
00:01:00I have to admit, like a lot of people, I am a bit scared of spiders.
00:01:07But I'm also genuinely looking forward to finding out more about these fascinating creatures.
00:01:18Hello, Alice.
00:01:20Hello.
00:01:21Come on in.
00:01:22So this is the spider house?
00:01:23It certainly is.
00:01:24No!
00:01:33Inside this house, entomologist Tim Cockrell, with the help of spider breeders and experts,
00:01:40has been conducting a unique study of what spiders really get up to in our homes.
00:01:48Even though they rid our houses of flies and other disease-carrying pests, we tend to despise and fear them.
00:01:59Now, for the first time, cameras in every room will reveal a hidden world of drama.
00:02:08Oh, he tumbled down.
00:02:10Romance.
00:02:11He was very gung-ho-ing.
00:02:13Absolutely.
00:02:14I think he was going to have to do a better job of courtship than that.
00:02:17Bloodshed.
00:02:18Oh, my goodness.
00:02:20Gosh, that was cool.
00:02:21And exquisite beauty.
00:02:26You'll never look at spiders in quite the same way again.
00:02:31You may even welcome them into your home.
00:02:34I feel quite maternal towards them, Graham.
00:02:36So you should.
00:02:38To begin, I'm going to meet one of the most common species found in our houses.
00:02:46What's in here?
00:02:47This is our spider lab.
00:02:49This is the central hub, the nerve center of Spider House.
00:02:52Fantastic.
00:02:53This is one of the house spiders, and as the name suggests, it's one of the most common species that
00:02:58lives in your house.
00:03:02I thought this was going to be a gentle introduction to Tim, and he's quite a big spider to start
00:03:06with.
00:03:07He's facing towards me.
00:03:09You're right.
00:03:11He's coming straight towards it. He just knows, doesn't he?
00:03:14He really does know.
00:03:16Tim, what's he doing now? It looks like he's chewing his leg.
00:03:19No, he's cleaning himself.
00:03:20So they're very, very sensitive pads on the end of the feet.
00:03:23So it's absolutely imperative that they keep them really, really clean.
00:03:28So this is quite sweet. This reminds me of a cat licking its paws.
00:03:35So why are they in our houses?
00:03:37Yeah, in many, many ways, a house is perfectly designed to hold spiders, especially the ones that are particularly associated
00:03:44with those like the house spider or like the daddy long neck spider.
00:03:47You know, they're nice and warm in the winter and full of pests, full of flies and moths and all
00:03:51sorts of things for them to eat.
00:03:54Ooh.
00:03:56It suddenly got very active indeed.
00:03:59Goodness me. Right. Yeah.
00:04:00I mean, this is what this is, I think, what I find difficult about spiders and I'm sure a lot
00:04:06of other people do as well, is that they can look completely still and completely calm and then they suddenly
00:04:12spring into action.
00:04:13I think those kind of responses can either go down the phobia route or fear route or fascination and intrigue
00:04:18route.
00:04:19So I'm hoping that I'm going to replace some of that anxiety about spiders with fascination.
00:04:24And I think even just this introduction to an ordinary hay spider has already got me really intrigued.
00:04:31We'll see how we get on.
00:04:35To investigate how spiders turn our homes into their homes, we transformed each room of this house into a spider
00:04:44laboratory.
00:04:45To do this, we needed a lot of spiders.
00:04:49So we turned to insect and arachnid breeder Graham Smith for help.
00:04:54So these are the new ones coming in, the beginnings of the collection.
00:04:58I love your labels as well. We've got daddy, tangle, orb.
00:05:02We collected spiders from other houses, nearby woods, gardens and fields, bringing them to the spider house where we gave
00:05:11each spider a temporary new home.
00:05:14We installed special cameras and turned the living room into our control centre.
00:05:22Allowing us to record what spiders get up to when we're not looking.
00:05:34One place where you're almost guaranteed to bump into spiders is the bathroom.
00:05:42Welcome to the bathroom.
00:05:51My journey through the house begins with a question.
00:05:56Why do we always find spiders at the bottom of the bath?
00:06:02Most people are familiar with spiders in the bath.
00:06:06Yeah.
00:06:06And it's not just fluke.
00:06:08You know, there is an actual reason why a bath is a place where spiders accumulate.
00:06:13We've been looking into this for the past few weeks and we've filmed some really interesting things.
00:06:17So we've got some clips to show you.
00:06:19Look at this. This is some film that we took earlier on in the week.
00:06:21And this is a spider drinking.
00:06:38That's amazing.
00:06:43I don't think I'd ever really thought about spiders drinking.
00:06:46It's a very delicate thing, isn't it?
00:06:51So it's just moving its mouth parts together?
00:06:53Yeah, well they also have a sucking stomach so they can create pressure to suck in liquids through the mouth
00:06:57part.
00:07:06So the first reason why we find spiders in the bathroom, spiders need to drink just like the rest of
00:07:10us.
00:07:11And the most humid room in the house, of course, is going to be the bathroom.
00:07:15Our houses are incredibly dry environments, thanks to central heating and damp roofing.
00:07:22So for spiders, bathrooms make perfect watering holes.
00:07:28But water is not the only reason we find so many lurking in our baths.
00:07:33If I was to design a spider trap, a spider catching trap, it would probably end up looking pretty much
00:07:39like a bath.
00:07:40Look at these house spiders here.
00:07:41You can see that they can get up the sides kind of slightly, but as soon as they get onto
00:07:46the flat side, none of them are able to climb out of the bath.
00:07:49Let's just watch this one.
00:07:57So she's trying her best to climb up this smooth surface.
00:08:02But she can't quite make it.
00:08:07Oh, you tumble down.
00:08:10So they're coming in, they're attracted by the idea that there could be water in there, there's moisture around, but
00:08:15once they've fallen in, they find it very difficult to climb out.
00:08:18That's right. Now, there's actually a really interesting reason why the house spider can't make it out of the bath.
00:08:23And if we look in really close detail at the ends of the toes, the ends of the tarsi of
00:08:28the house spider, and you can see right at the very tip of the toes are these two big claws.
00:08:33They're like big curved combs, aren't they?
00:08:35And these are perfectly well designed for walking on a web by hooking on with these claws at the end
00:08:41of the toes.
00:08:43Now, because that's the only way of walking around they've got, well, they can't climb up smooth surfaces, they can't
00:08:48get out of the bath.
00:08:50So when thirsty spiders are lured into the bath, they are trapped.
00:08:56And often face an even worse fate.
00:09:03Because many people get rid of them by washing them down the drain.
00:09:18But how does this affect the poor spider?
00:09:26This way then. To me. To me.
00:09:29Out in the garden, Tim and Graham are going to find out, using a sink with a specially constructed transparent
00:09:36U-bend.
00:09:36I know you said we brought everything but the kitchen sink, but this is really taking the biscuit.
00:09:42So, Graham, we are trying to find the answer to the question, what happens when a spider gets flushed down
00:09:48the sink?
00:09:48Because that's what most people do, isn't it? Or lots of people, obviously not us included.
00:09:52No, no, no. Banting.
00:09:57Do you want to say when?
00:09:59That'll do it.
00:10:00Right.
00:10:03So we'll try this one, shall we?
00:10:04Yeah, that one. This is a house spider.
00:10:06So this is dinner escaping there, those flies flying away.
00:10:09Excellent.
00:10:09So this is a house spider inside its nice, tubey web there.
00:10:14Yeah.
00:10:15Just to coax him out.
00:10:16Oh, that's an adult male.
00:10:17Adult male, yep. Nice one.
00:10:19And so first question, what's going to be his response as he hits the water?
00:10:24Sink or swim? And there he goes, oh wow, look at that.
00:10:27Doesn't notice the water.
00:10:35Most spiders here in the UK can accomplish this minor miracle.
00:10:41By spreading their weight over their eight legs, they simply don't break the surface tension of the water.
00:10:48On top of that, their bodies are covered in water repellent hairs.
00:10:53When submerged, these hairs trap a layer of air around the spider, which means it never really gets wet.
00:11:06So maybe if I go and watch for the response, and then are you alright to man the plug?
00:11:10You told me when.
00:11:11Great.
00:11:13Three, two, one, pull the plug.
00:11:20Oh.
00:11:20One spider.
00:11:22There he goes.
00:11:22Oh.
00:11:29This might look like a terrible ordeal for our house spider.
00:11:33But even when fully submerged, he can still breathe, using the bubble of air trapped in the hairs around his
00:11:40body.
00:11:43Using this spidery scuba gear, some species can survive underwater for several hours.
00:11:55So it looks as if this spider has survived the experience perfectly well.
00:11:58It washed through the U-bend.
00:11:59And in fact, I can't even see a single drop of water on it.
00:12:02Now, this is what's happened in our experiment, but in real life, do you think it would be the same
00:12:06situation?
00:12:07No.
00:12:07No.
00:12:07A spider really being washed down the sink?
00:12:10Bad idea.
00:12:11And that's because the water in our drains is never just water.
00:12:15It contains soaps and detergents that weaken the surface tension.
00:12:20And it doesn't take much to sink our poor spider.
00:12:25There we go.
00:12:26Straight in.
00:12:26Without surface tension, the spider can't walk on water or trap the air he needs around his body.
00:12:33I think we should rescue him really, really quickly.
00:12:41So it's perfectly fine for us to flush our spider down this sink with nice clean water.
00:12:45But when people do it at home, it's not just water.
00:12:48It's shampoo, it's shower gel, it's soap, washing up liquid.
00:12:51If you flush a spider down the sink in your house, well, you're probably going to kill it.
00:12:56You're going to kill it.
00:12:57It's not a nice thing to do.
00:13:02So the kindest thing to do if you find a spider in your bath is to find a suitable container
00:13:08and take it outside.
00:13:16Many spiders cope surprisingly well with water.
00:13:20But there's one that's adapted so well, it's gone one step further.
00:13:26Some spiders live next to the water.
00:13:28Some spiders live on the water.
00:13:31But this guy lives under the water.
00:13:34This is a diving bell spider.
00:13:40It can swim around as agile as a fish.
00:13:43It eats, sleeps and even breathes under the surface of the water.
00:13:48The diving bell spider carries its own air supply, trapped in the hairs on its abdomen.
00:13:54It almost never needs to leave the water.
00:13:57When the oxygen in its bubble is exhausted, it simply flicks its abdomen above the surface, capturing a new batch
00:14:04of fresh air.
00:14:06It can last for hours, even days under water without coming to the surface.
00:14:10It's so successful that it's found halfway across the world, including in ponds and streams all around Britain.
00:14:17It's a unique spider in the animal kingdom.
00:14:28We've seen how spiders find water in our homes.
00:14:34But in order to survive, they also need to eat.
00:14:40And they're not interested in our food.
00:14:45Here in the dining room, Tim and Graham have arranged a very special dinner party, where only guests with eight
00:14:53legs are invited.
00:14:56For spiders, supper usually begins with one of the most beautiful and mysterious pieces of engineering in the natural world.
00:15:06The web.
00:15:08Welcome to the dining room.
00:15:10This looks suitably spooky, Tim.
00:15:13That's the idea.
00:15:18So this is the room where we're going to have a really close look at spider webs.
00:15:23So we've let all sorts of different species of spider really explore the place and make webs in different nooks
00:15:28and crannies of the room.
00:15:29On the dining table here, we've got a grand tour of web design in spiders hidden in amongst the cutlery
00:15:35and crockery.
00:15:40Spider webs come in a huge variety of shapes and sizes, from simple tubes to sheets and tangles.
00:15:49I see why it's called a tube, whatever it is, isn't it?
00:15:52Yeah, so this is built trip lines from the opening of that mouth, so it's very thin threads.
00:15:58Right out almost the edge of the glass there.
00:16:01You can find all of these different webs in and around your house.
00:16:07But the familiar orb web is the most complex and advanced.
00:16:15The spiders responsible are the most industrious engineers in the house, the orb weavers.
00:16:30They can find their way in from the garden by hitching a ride on shopping bags, coats or boots.
00:16:40These spiders are the best builders you'll ever have in.
00:16:45They can weave an entire new home in less than an hour.
00:16:51So Timmy, you've got a communal garden orb spider.
00:16:55We're going to see if it's going to actually make a web for us.
00:16:58That's right.
00:17:03I do like these spiders. I think she's quite pretty.
00:17:07They've got lovely stripy legs.
00:17:09She's a very intricately patterned thing.
00:17:14We're giving this orb weaver a new home.
00:17:17One of our picture frames.
00:17:19So that our cameras can record her web building in minute detail.
00:17:24It's certainly spinning silk. Quite a lot of silk.
00:17:28Drifting in the air here.
00:17:30These are experts in insect behaviour.
00:17:33Because they've got to put their web in just the right place to capture flying insects.
00:17:37And so anywhere where they can feel exactly the right kind of draft, just the right kind of air movement.
00:17:41Where insects might be likely to be flying, well, that's exactly where they'll put their web.
00:17:46And as she walks around the picture frame there, well, she's doing what she would do in the wild.
00:17:51She'd kind of survey her territory and look for those attachment points to put that first layer of scaffolding down
00:17:56almost.
00:17:58Come on, little orb spider.
00:18:06We waited all night, but sadly the carefully positioned frame didn't take our orb weaver's fancy.
00:18:14But the plants by the window did.
00:18:19And it was here she built her home.
00:18:25By first releasing a lone strand of silk, which catches on a nearby leaf.
00:18:34This is the moment a new web begins.
00:18:39From this main line the spider drops downwards to form a Y-shaped core structure.
00:18:51Next, she attaches stiff threads like the spokes of a bicycle wheel, over which she weaves a loose, temporary spiral.
00:19:03Finally, the most crucial part.
00:19:07Using this first spiral as a guide, she weaves a tighter spiral of sticky silk.
00:19:15In just under an hour, in mid-air, this tiny spider constructs a natural marvel.
00:19:26A perfect orbweb.
00:19:30But no matter what they look like, these remarkable structures are usually built for one thing.
00:19:37And that's catching dinner.
00:19:40To see this in action, Tim's introducing me to the larger spiders here in the dining room.
00:19:47So are these actually alive?
00:19:50They are. They look like big plastic spiders, don't they?
00:19:52But no, these are tropical orbweaving spiders.
00:19:55They're huge!
00:19:55Yeah, they're a kind of giant version of the kind of things that we get in our own back gardens.
00:20:00So she's sitting right in the middle of the web and each one of those legs is attached to a
00:20:04different strand of the web.
00:20:05So what I'd like to do is to see this web in action.
00:20:08Okay, let's see what happens then.
00:20:10I have to hope my aim's good.
00:20:13Oh, and there we are, straight away.
00:20:15Straight in.
00:20:26She knew exactly where, and remember the eyesight's not all that good on these spiders.
00:20:30Yeah.
00:20:30So she was using the vibration in the web to really pinpoint where the fly was.
00:20:34The split second that fly hit the web, she was ready to paint on it.
00:20:41Most species of web-weaving spider are virtually blind.
00:20:48Even when prey is nearby, they often won't sense it.
00:20:55Until it moves.
00:21:03Spider silk is particularly good at transmitting even tiny vibrations.
00:21:11Sensitive hairs on the spider's legs detect the silk's slightest movement.
00:21:23Using each of her eight legs, like an ear, she pinpoints exactly which part of the web the movement's coming
00:21:30from.
00:21:33And strikes.
00:21:38The web is a finely tuned listening device.
00:21:45A physical extension of the spider's sensory world.
00:21:54But detecting prey is just the first stage of spider supper.
00:22:01Next, they have to battle insects that are nearly as big as them.
00:22:09Over the course of several weeks, our cameras captured many of these life and death struggles.
00:22:18So we've had cameras in every room filming.
00:22:21We've seen some incredible behaviour.
00:22:23And these are the things that are going on in your houses and in gardens all the way around the
00:22:27country.
00:22:29The house spider uses strength and speed to immobilise its prey.
00:22:39It simply charges out and bites its victim.
00:22:49But all weavers use a different technique.
00:22:58It's called attack wrapping.
00:23:08This spider hasn't bitten the fly yet. It hasn't injected its venom.
00:23:12Oh, really?
00:23:12So that first stage is just using that multi-stranded silk.
00:23:15There you go, look at that.
00:23:16You can see how it's not just one line of silk.
00:23:18It's like a sheet of silk that's coming straight out from the abdomen.
00:23:22Oh, he's wrapping the fly up like a mummy.
00:23:29Because, of course, it could be anything in the web.
00:23:32It could be something nasty like a wasp with a really nasty sting on the back.
00:23:35So it needs to immobilise it before it feels safe enough to get close to inject that venom.
00:23:40It's quite extraordinary that sheet of silk that comes out.
00:23:43It's almost like cling film, isn't it?
00:23:45Wrapping its feet up in the back.
00:23:47Exactly, yeah.
00:23:50With the prey immobilised, finally, it's dinner time.
00:23:55And if you're eating dinner yourself, a word of warning.
00:23:59Spiders have truly terrible table manners.
00:24:04Who is it actually eating the fly now?
00:24:07And so this is the external digestion of the prey.
00:24:11So the spider's stomach and its gut and its esophagus are adapted to accept liquids only.
00:24:16In fact, there are filters inside to filter out any solid food.
00:24:19So all of that food needs to be liquified before it goes into the body.
00:24:23Wow, that's amazing.
00:24:24That's amazing.
00:24:32First, the orb weaver uses special teeth on her jaws to pull the fly apart.
00:24:42Then she releases her own digestive juices all over it.
00:24:49These enzymes break down and liquify the insides of the fly, allowing the spider to simply drink her meal by
00:24:57sucking through her mouth.
00:25:01Every year, spiders around the world eat the equivalent weight of the human population of Britain in flies and other
00:25:09insects.
00:25:10By ridding our houses of disease-carrying pests, spiders do us a huge favour.
00:25:23But a spider's dinner isn't just handed to her on a plate.
00:25:29A web might look like a passive trap, just waiting for flies to slam into it.
00:25:35But it actually plays a much more active role, harnessing the power of static electricity to reach out for prey.
00:25:51The man who made this remarkable discovery, Professor Fritz Volrath, is going to show us how this works.
00:26:03Now we've got this interesting contraption here, and we're expecting that if I attach myself to this, get charged up
00:26:09with static electricity and then approach this spider web, we might see something interesting.
00:26:12Something very interesting, hopefully.
00:26:15Something interesting, something dangerous, maybe. It's a dangerous piece of kit by the looks of it.
00:26:19So I'm going to stand on here, I'll insulate myself from the ground, so I'll get charged up with static.
00:26:24And I'm ready to rush off.
00:26:26Yeah, you might get zapped at that distance.
00:26:29Right, let's try it.
00:26:32This Van de Graaff generator produces large amounts of static electricity.
00:26:37Yeah, we just see very slight movements in the web.
00:26:40Yeah, yeah.
00:26:41Anything in contact with the metal sphere becomes charged.
00:26:46Tim included.
00:26:48Very cool.
00:26:50Incredible.
00:26:50Not really, it's cool now.
00:26:54And you can see the web pulling out to catch me.
00:26:58Really, it's incredible.
00:27:02So if I was a fly, I'd be tangled up in that web by now.
00:27:04Yep.
00:27:06And the way it works, of course, is that an insect flying through the air, because of all the friction,
00:27:11basically charges the insect up.
00:27:13It's a bit like when you're walking across a carpet and you charge yourself up and you touch a door
00:27:17handle and you get an electric shock.
00:27:18Yeah.
00:27:20All flying insects generate static electricity as their wings beat the air.
00:27:25This gives them a small electric charge.
00:27:29The sticky strands of spider silk are charged too, which makes them attracted to the insect.
00:27:38So by the time the insect is close enough to say, oops, here's a web, the web licks out at
00:27:45it and captures it.
00:27:46So when a fly, for example, approaches this web, well, it's not just the fly getting caught in the web,
00:27:52it's the web catching the fly.
00:27:53So the web reaches out and grabs hold of it.
00:27:55Reaching out and then sticking to it because it comes out and then it transfers the charge.
00:27:59Now, in a real life situation, this would be a fly that's flying through the air getting charged up.
00:28:04So we've got a dead fly here and we're going to charge it up through the machine via me and
00:28:09see how that affects the system.
00:28:17And there it goes.
00:28:19Jump straight in.
00:28:21So this is a really surprising system.
00:28:24How on earth did you discover this?
00:28:25It was partly deduction and partly luck, actually.
00:28:29Just let's do it.
00:28:30Sometimes you have an idea and then you go and you actually try it out and it really works.
00:28:36So it was a surprise when it worked.
00:28:38Oh yeah, totally.
00:28:39What an amazing system.
00:28:40Yeah.
00:28:41It's really cool.
00:28:43Physics, together with biology, makes things happen.
00:28:50Spider webs are truly remarkable structures.
00:28:54And that's largely because they're made from one of the most extraordinary materials in the natural world.
00:29:00Spider silk.
00:29:02But what is this gossamer-like substance and where does it come from?
00:29:07To find out, we need to look inside a spider's body.
00:29:12As an anatomist, I've dissected many things, but never anything quite this small.
00:29:17So we've brought in a specialist, Dr David Knight.
00:29:23So David, I know much more about vertebrate anatomy than I know about actually any invertebrate anatomy.
00:29:29And I especially don't know much about spider anatomy because I tend to keep at a safe distance from them.
00:29:34So can we get inside this thing?
00:29:36Yes. So we need to see if we can gently open up the skin.
00:29:44First, David has to remove the tough skin that covers the abdomen.
00:29:50Right, so if we open up here, see what we've got.
00:29:56So what is this speckly stuff here?
00:29:59That's branches of the gut, or it's connected to the gut.
00:30:04This is a completely different anatomy.
00:30:07It's a completely different way of doing it.
00:30:09What we're looking for lies deeper inside.
00:30:15Right. So if we open up here.
00:30:21See what we have there. Carefully peel back the gut diverticulae.
00:30:28Yeah, we're getting close.
00:30:31Right, there's a couple of silk glands.
00:30:33Those are?
00:30:34Yeah.
00:30:35These things here? Like two little pink sausages?
00:30:37Two pink sausages of the silk glands.
00:30:41So they're almost enveloped by all of these branches of the gut.
00:30:46They are indeed.
00:30:47It makes quite a lot of silk, the house spider here.
00:30:51These structures may not look remarkable, but they produce and store a true wonder material.
00:30:59But at this stage, silk is nothing like the tough fibres that make up a spider's web.
00:31:04I presume when it secretes the silk to begin with, is it a fluid?
00:31:09It's a fluid, yes.
00:31:10So how does a fluid become a strand of silk, a fibre of silk, because it leaves the spider's body?
00:31:16Well, it's stretched by the spider walking away or dropping from the ceiling.
00:31:21And that stretching pulls all the molecules into line and squeezes them together.
00:31:29They then lock solid into a solid thread.
00:31:31It's amazing.
00:31:32Just amazing.
00:31:34A spider has several types of silk gland within its abdomen, each producing a different kind of silk.
00:31:43These vary from strong and tough drag line silk, used as a safety line.
00:31:50To fluffy egg case silk, used to protect its eggs.
00:31:55There's even a silk glue that anchors threads to their surroundings.
00:32:00This is a remarkably versatile material.
00:32:04Highly elastic, tougher than kevlar, and five times as strong as steel.
00:32:10Which makes it potentially useful for humans too.
00:32:15Unravelling the secrets of spider silk is what drives biologist and materials scientist Chris Holland.
00:32:26He uses this strange contraption to harvest silk.
00:32:30This is an incredible setup. What's going on?
00:32:33In order to get some silk out of the spider, we have to very, very carefully pull it from its
00:32:37spinnerets.
00:32:38Although it looks unnatural, this entire process is completely harmless for the spider.
00:32:44You can see the really fine line of silk just coming from the end of the spider.
00:32:49Absolutely beautiful. It's a very delicate material when handling it.
00:32:54But it just goes to show that for its size, it's incredibly strong.
00:33:00And what I'm just doing now is I'm just going to attach a little bit onto this motor to do
00:33:07the job of pulling it away for me.
00:33:09And there it goes.
00:33:10And there we go.
00:33:15It's a real factory at the end of the spider there, isn't it?
00:33:18It's the world's most remarkable polymer extrusion factory, definitely.
00:33:27With this setup, it's possible to obtain about 30 metres of silk an hour.
00:33:34It's not practical on a commercial scale.
00:33:36But if scientists like Chris can fully understand how spiders spin silk, then perhaps they'll be able to produce artificial
00:33:44silk that's as good as the real thing.
00:33:48Something that's proved elusive for decades.
00:33:51It's amazing the potential that it's got into the future, looking at all the different things that you could do
00:33:56with this nature's wonder material.
00:33:58Absolutely. Potential uses of spider silk can range from medicine.
00:34:01Some people have tried to grow nerves along spider silk, but they've also tried to produce it for different types
00:34:07of more structural applications.
00:34:08One day we may actually be running around with different types of artificial parts of our body inspired by spider
00:34:14silk and how it's formed.
00:34:20There's plenty to admire in the humble spider.
00:34:27So why are so many of us afraid of them?
00:34:34To find out, I've invited psychologist John May over to watch a movie.
00:34:42In a small Wisconsin town, something was about to happen that would send shockwaves around the world.
00:34:53I'm supposed to be spending the night in the spider house later in the week, and I certainly don't want
00:34:58to end up like this.
00:35:11So these sorts of horror films really are playing on a fear of spiders, but how prevalent is arachnophobia?
00:35:19How prevalent is this fear of these eight-legged creatures?
00:35:22Well, it's very common in Western culture.
00:35:26Around 25% of people are afraid of spiders to the point that they will avoid them, they'll ask somebody
00:35:34else to deal with them.
00:35:35I mean, I'm aware that I'm nervous around spiders, and I try to cover that up in front of my
00:35:41children,
00:35:42because I don't want to imbue them with that irrational fear.
00:35:45So I do try to be more interested than scared of spiders, but I'm sure my four-year-old daughter
00:35:52can pick up on the fact that I do have that kind of frisson of fear.
00:35:58I think it is learnt.
00:36:00It's something that it's very easy to acquire, which suggests there is something about a spider that makes it easy
00:36:08to dislike.
00:36:09And I think it's down to the fact that they have long or tend to have long angular legs.
00:36:17And we know that people tend to prefer curvy shapes in general to angular shapes.
00:36:25And also, we don't like dark colours compared to bright colours, and spiders are generally camouflaged with dark colours.
00:36:33So they tick all the boxes for being disliked.
00:36:36And that's why I'm really nervous about sleeping overnight in this house.
00:36:40You're going to sleep here with the spiders?
00:36:42We'll see. We'll see.
00:36:44Good luck.
00:36:50According to John, my fear of spiders is a learned behaviour.
00:36:56So the question is, can it be unlearned?
00:37:05Every year, London Zoo runs a special programme that claims to do just that.
00:37:13On a scale of one to ten, where one is mild and ten is extreme, where would you put your
00:37:17fears from this?
00:37:20Probably eight, I'd have to say.
00:37:21This afternoon is a particularly important one for Dan.
00:37:26Later this year, he's going on the trip of a lifetime to Montserrat as videographer for a zoological expedition.
00:37:33But the thought of staying in a tent full of spiders is giving him sleepless nights.
00:37:39For me, spiders are wrong on a lot of different levels.
00:37:43If someone were to ask me to draw the embodiment of evil, and I'd never seen a spider before,
00:37:49I still genuinely think I would draw like a big black dot with eight legs.
00:37:57Arachnophobia has a devastating impact on some of these people's lives.
00:38:01So what is it about spiders that triggers these fears?
00:38:06Everything about their shape and the way they look freaks me out, really.
00:38:11They just look menacing. They look cross with you. I don't know.
00:38:15It's the running. It's the way they move.
00:38:18It's because they always surprise you out of nowhere. That's what gets me in a panic every time.
00:38:24I'm John Clifford. I'm the hypnotherapist on the course.
00:38:27People really do not understand how a phobia works, how powerful it can be.
00:38:31The course has a remarkable 80% success rate using a mixture of cognitive therapy, hypnotherapy, and finally, exposure therapy.
00:38:44Don't, don't make it move.
00:38:45I'm not going to make it move. I'm still holding on. I'm not going to let go.
00:38:49It's OK.
00:38:51Ah! Tony touched it! Sorry.
00:38:52There you go.
00:38:52That's amazing. Let me try again.
00:38:54There you go.
00:38:55Go on, spider. Run away from me.
00:38:57Oh, my God.
00:38:58That was so awesome.
00:38:59Nice one.
00:39:01This is a bit that I've not been looking forward to, really.
00:39:13There you go.
00:39:17Well done, mate.
00:39:18Yeah.
00:39:19Did you want to try having him run across your fingers?
00:39:21Yes.
00:39:22I don't see why not.
00:39:23Yeah.
00:39:24Yeah?
00:39:25OK.
00:39:30This is the sort of house spider I would see.
00:39:32It's exactly the sort of one that you'd see in your house.
00:39:35Oh!
00:39:36Oh!
00:39:39Oh!
00:39:39Really well done, though.
00:39:41I felt that, just inside.
00:39:44You're lucky I didn't fling it at you.
00:39:46And it caused a stampede.
00:39:50And if you thought that the British house spiders were maybe a bit small to see what was going on.
00:39:56As a final challenge, the participants are invited to have their picture taken with a Mexican tarantula named Agatha.
00:40:08Many here began the day terrified of even sharing a room with a spider.
00:40:13OK.
00:40:15OK.
00:40:16That's all right.
00:40:17You OK?
00:40:17So this is a huge achievement.
00:40:25So do you think you'd be able to do this?
00:40:27No.
00:40:28Amazing.
00:40:32Finally, it's Dan's turn to hold Agatha.
00:40:36So I'm just going to bring her across into the palm of your hand.
00:40:39Give a smile.
00:40:43There she is.
00:40:44You've got Agatha.
00:40:44How's that?
00:40:46Yeah.
00:40:47Isn't she cool?
00:40:48She's amazing.
00:40:51The success of this course shows that we don't have to be afraid of spiders if we don't want to
00:40:56be.
00:40:57Almost everyone here today is now able to cope with spiders, including Dan.
00:41:04I feel if I see one now with the understanding that I've got, I'm not going to be as freaked
00:41:08out as I was before.
00:41:10Which is good because that was a major stress for me.
00:41:17So far in the spider house, we've been looking at spiders who sit and wait for their prey to come
00:41:23to them.
00:41:25But today, we're going to meet a true hunter.
00:41:36The zebra jumping spider normally lives on a sunny back wall.
00:41:41But Will come in a window if he sees potential prey inside.
00:41:54Don't be fooled by his small size.
00:41:58This natural born killer has keen eyesight.
00:42:03And the ability to jump up to 25 times his own body length to catch his prey.
00:42:15Hello Graham.
00:42:16Hi Alice.
00:42:18We're trying to capture this incredible behaviour on camera.
00:42:23That's one of the English zebras.
00:42:25It's tiny.
00:42:26Yeah, it is tiny.
00:42:27I'm pretty sure I recognise this fellow.
00:42:30Yeah, it must be my common visitor in the summer.
00:42:33I think with some spiders, you're not sure that they're aware of you.
00:42:38But he seems incredibly aware of his surroundings.
00:42:41Visually.
00:42:42Oh yeah, yeah.
00:42:42When you see them in the wild, they'll see you approach and tuck out of sight and just watch you.
00:42:47Watch what you're doing.
00:42:49It's a real visual hunter and it's got two special forward-facing eyes for them.
00:42:54And how far can it see?
00:42:56Oh, good distance.
00:42:57It will certainly recognise if somebody walked through the door.
00:43:00Really?
00:43:00Oh yeah, that good.
00:43:01Of course.
00:43:01Yeah.
00:43:04Jumping spiders are renowned for stalking their prey like a cat.
00:43:11But it's hard to see what's going on with such a tiny spider.
00:43:15So we've drafted in a larger one.
00:43:19OK, you've seen the little one that lives in England?
00:43:22Yeah.
00:43:22This is a big relative.
00:43:24He's a bit bigger.
00:43:25Oh, it's a...
00:43:25It's a very, very similar North American cousin.
00:43:29He's lovely.
00:43:31Oh, has he got green flags?
00:43:33Yeah, superb colours.
00:43:39So we'll tease it with a green bottle or a blue bottle?
00:43:42Green bottle.
00:43:44And we'll just...
00:43:47See what he'll do.
00:43:48Now he noticed it.
00:43:49See, the way he sat back, he was actually pressuring his legs up.
00:44:00I'll just pop a few more in so we've got some more choices of food for him.
00:44:05Oh, oh.
00:44:08He's...
00:44:09I don't know.
00:44:09He's not sure.
00:44:10Is he?
00:44:11What's he going to do?
00:44:12He's actually working out what it is.
00:44:14Is he?
00:44:14Yeah.
00:44:15Because he's just gone in there, so he's a bit alien.
00:44:17Yeah.
00:44:18They assess whether it's threat or food.
00:44:20Hmm.
00:44:21Hmm.
00:44:21He really kind of bunched up.
00:44:24Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:44:24As the fire went past, I could appreciate that he was very alert.
00:44:28And he's...
00:44:28He's actually just seen you.
00:44:30Oh, has he?
00:44:30Yeah.
00:44:31He's looking right at me.
00:44:32He's looking right at you.
00:44:33Wow, I can see his two little beady black eyes.
00:44:39Now, I'm not your dinner.
00:44:49It's lovely working out what it is, working out size.
00:45:13Oh.
00:45:15See how fast that is?
00:45:16Oh, my goodness.
00:45:18Isn't that superb?
00:45:19Oh.
00:45:20Gosh, that was quick.
00:45:21And it was interesting because he was poised and ready.
00:45:24Yep.
00:45:25And then suddenly sprang into action.
00:45:28The jumping spider has made this catch look easy.
00:45:31But to finish the job, he must now kill the fly.
00:45:35He does this by injecting venom.
00:45:40A lethal cocktail that can kill in seconds.
00:45:46Most spiders kill their prey with venom.
00:45:51To look at how this deadly substance works,
00:45:54we need to extract some.
00:45:58Without getting bitten.
00:46:04This is a highly specialised job best left to the experts.
00:46:10Steve Trim works with some of the most dangerous spiders on the planet
00:46:15in order to supply venom for medical research.
00:46:21What I'm preparing here is our electrodes.
00:46:24The electrodes will touch either side of the chelicera on the spider,
00:46:28which is where the venom glands are held.
00:46:32To obtain a sample, Steve must first gently sedate the spider.
00:46:39The fangs are nicely relaxed.
00:46:42Next, he stimulates the venom glands with a tiny electric current similar to the charge from a household battery.
00:46:51So I'm delivering a first tiny poss.
00:46:59And there we see a small droplet of venom.
00:47:03The venom from this tarantula is powerful enough to kill a large mammal.
00:47:08But how does it do this?
00:47:16To find out, Tim is carrying out an experiment in the spider house lab.
00:47:26We've had a donation of a drop of blood on a microscope slide from Graham, our spider expert.
00:47:30And we've mixed it with a drop of tarantula venom.
00:47:34There's a whole range of different spider venoms all across the different families of spiders.
00:47:39Some of them are a mixture, a cocktail of potent neurotoxins that affect the nervous system.
00:47:44But this one is a cytotoxin, so this is something that affects the cells and particularly the blood cells.
00:47:51So if something was to be attacked by this spider,
00:47:53well, the venom would instantly start to work on the blood cells, the oxygen carriers of the body.
00:47:59Just seconds after the tarantula venom is mixed with the blood, the cells begin to change.
00:48:05So you can see here, we've got perfectly normal red blood cells,
00:48:09this really characteristic, round, smooth doughnut shape.
00:48:12And then if I just pan across towards the venom,
00:48:17we start to see these strange-looking globules.
00:48:20You can see just in the space of about a minute or two,
00:48:24well, the venom has really, really attacked these blood cells and degraded them completely.
00:48:28They've gone from this very smooth doughnut shape to just kind of round, fuzzy balls.
00:48:34So there's no way that these blood cells could fulfill their function of carrying oxygen around the body.
00:48:39Spiders eat prey often many times larger than themselves, so spiders risk being injured as soon as they attack.
00:48:45But also they have prey that can escape very quickly.
00:48:48So it's massively important for a spider to really knock out the prey as soon as possible.
00:48:57Spider venom is both powerful and fast-acting, but thankfully it isn't something we should be worried about here in
00:49:06the UK.
00:49:07British spiders aren't particularly venomous.
00:49:11And most of our native species can't even penetrate human skin.
00:49:18Even the much-feared false widow has a bite that should feel no worse than a bee sting.
00:49:33Up to now, we've been looking at spider species that naturally find their way into our homes.
00:49:47But there is one exotic favourite that some people choose to bring home as a pet.
00:49:56The tarantula.
00:50:01Hello, Graham.
00:50:03Well, thank you for assembling some tarantulas for me.
00:50:06I am learning to love spiders, but I'm still a bit nervous about ones of this size, I must admit.
00:50:10Yeah, they're quite a big beast, but quite gentle.
00:50:13Think of it as an eight-legged hamster.
00:50:15With fangs?
00:50:16Yeah, with fangs.
00:50:18Tarantulas are really widespread throughout the world, so why don't we get them in Britain?
00:50:24Really, our weather doesn't suit them.
00:50:26Our winters kind of pulse a little, so we have long, damp spells where they couldn't be active.
00:50:32They would be sitting in burrows where mice will get them, mould or fungus would get them.
00:50:38And you can see that some of these really show off the colours in sunlight.
00:50:44Oh, she is actually quite pretty, I have to admit it.
00:50:47Yeah, she's a very pretty spider.
00:50:49So she's got orange hairs on her epistosoma, her abdomen.
00:50:54Yeah.
00:50:55She's got stripy knees and she's got silver hairs on her front legs.
00:51:00They may have their charms, but I wouldn't want such a big, hairy, venomous creature in my house.
00:51:07But there are thousands in Britain who do.
00:51:15Tim went to the British Tarantula Show to find out just what it is that makes tarantulas such popular pets.
00:51:29So what have you got in your box? What have you got?
00:51:31Um, I've got a few spiderlings and then this is sort of what my main purchase was today.
00:51:36Yeah, and what is this one?
00:51:37Um, it's a hetroscordia macrolata.
00:51:39I just think it's one of the most beautiful species you could get.
00:51:51Have you just bought this one?
00:51:53Yeah.
00:51:54How many have you got?
00:51:54I've got ruby, scarlet, rosy, band-aid, velvet and pizza.
00:52:01But why is it called pizza?
00:52:03Well, the common name for the species is chilli red flame and my mum thought that sounded like pizza.
00:52:11You look a bit nervous to me.
00:52:13Very nervous.
00:52:14Why is that?
00:52:15Terrified.
00:52:15Terrified of spiders.
00:52:17So you're scared of spiders but you've ended up at a spider convention.
00:52:20This must be the worst place.
00:52:22I know, to try and help us.
00:52:23And has it done the job?
00:52:24No.
00:52:28But the serious arachnophiles are really here for one thing and one thing only.
00:52:34The tarantula competition.
00:52:36Really nice fringing on the femurs.
00:52:38Lovely black, velvety, dark legs.
00:52:40It's a first class specimen.
00:52:42Sometimes nicknamed the crufts of the spider world.
00:52:45Peter, you're judging the spider competition now.
00:52:47It's not like with dogs where there's a kind of gold standard golden retriever, is it?
00:52:50When you look at the spider, what's the first thing?
00:52:52The first thing we do is a leg count.
00:52:54We've got to make sure they've got eight legs.
00:52:56Because sometimes they've got legs missing.
00:52:57Absolutely.
00:52:58They've got legs missing.
00:52:59But the good thing about spiders is they'll grow them back.
00:53:01What we're really looking for is something that displays the known colours of that particular
00:53:06species as vividly as possible.
00:53:09And one of the most important things is that the abdomen is in proportion to the size of the spider.
00:53:14We don't want to see a spider that's too overfed.
00:53:17Well, I think we'd better let you get back to your judging.
00:53:19You've got your work cut out.
00:53:20Okay, thank you very much.
00:53:22I'm lucky enough to meet some of the top competitors.
00:53:25Are these special spiders?
00:53:27Yes, it's special spiders.
00:53:29It's rare spiders, but it's small spiders, so I don't know if I will be the winner or not.
00:53:35Because they are small, but they are very beautiful.
00:53:38And have you won a prize yet?
00:53:39I have a prize regularly.
00:53:41Really?
00:53:41Normally, yes.
00:53:42I hope it's you too.
00:53:44These ones come from trees.
00:53:45They live in trees.
00:53:47This one's a highland species, so it's one that you don't often see.
00:53:50I'm not very good at pronouncing this one.
00:53:52It's Cereal Pagamis Shell Daytime.
00:53:55That's easy for you to say.
00:53:56It's not actually.
00:54:01The best Frankie Bermoth species.
00:54:10Jean-Michel Maten.
00:54:16Okay, best in show, "'Celler St. Truberst-Malfour Health".
00:54:20Mike Dawkins!
00:54:28Best New World Arboreal...
00:54:31Peter Lacey!
00:54:40It's a different Peter Lacey.
00:54:42So, Mike, congratulations, you won the Best in Show.
00:54:45Thank you. How does it feel?
00:54:46Brilliant. Didn't expect all that.
00:54:49What will you do to celebrate? Have you got a plan?
00:54:51Pub.
00:54:52To go to a pub? Are you going to take the spider with you?
00:54:54Nah, just in case.
00:54:57Does she have a name?
00:54:58Her name's Lola.
00:54:59Lola, fantastic.
00:55:01Well, it's lovely to meet you.
00:55:02It's lovely to meet a champion of the eight-legged variety.
00:55:15I've put it off as long as I can, but the moment I've been dreading has finally arrived.
00:55:22Tonight, I'm going to spend the night in the spider house.
00:55:27By morning, I'll know whether I've truly conquered my fears.
00:55:32What worries me most is whether I'll have spiders running over me in the middle of the night.
00:55:38I'm hoping Graham can put my mind at rest.
00:55:42Now, Graham, there is one thing I really wanted to ask you, which is about this idea that spiders crawl
00:55:48across our faces and that we eat a certain number of spiders in our sleep every year.
00:55:52Is there anything to it?
00:55:54We hear it a lot, but the way spiders react, as soon as they touch someone, they're aware of you.
00:55:59Just breathing on them, they run away.
00:56:01And touching your skin, they know that you're a person or a big animal.
00:56:05So, no, they're not going to walk across your face.
00:56:07So, it's a myth?
00:56:08Yeah.
00:56:09Well, that gives me some reassurance about sleeping here in the spider house tonight.
00:56:15Once Graham and the crew head home for the night, I'll be alone with the spiders.
00:56:22All I have with me is an infrared camera.
00:56:31My room.
00:56:32I might just have a quick check for spiders.
00:56:36It's relatively spider-free.
00:56:40There's a lovely moth just there.
00:56:44I can't see any spiders over there.
00:56:47Right then, time for bed.
00:56:54Okay, I'm just about to go to bed.
00:56:57But I've discovered an unwelcome guest in the room.
00:57:02See, that spider is not going to be spending the night with me in the room.
00:57:09I know Graham said they don't climb into your mouth.
00:57:12I don't want you running over me at all.
00:57:16I might just leave it there.
00:57:19Sorry, spider.
00:57:21Okay, I've just spotted somebody else who's definitely not going to be spending the night with me tonight.
00:57:26Is that, or is that not the biggest?
00:57:29Hey, spider.
00:57:31He's not staying in here overnight.
00:57:38Yeah, two friends from my bedroom.
00:57:42I'm sorry guys, you're spending the night in there.
00:57:52I'm really tired now.
00:57:54I don't think I can put it off anymore.
00:57:55I'm going to have to try and go to sleep.
00:57:57It's about one o'clock in the morning.
00:58:00And the crew will be arriving back in the house at some godly hour.
00:58:04So, er, I better just put thoughts of spiders out of my mind and, er, go to sleep, I suppose.
00:58:14So, er, goodnight.
00:58:19Goodnight spiders, wherever you are.
00:58:22Goodnight BBC Four.
00:58:37Well, that is early morning sunshine, filling in through the window.
00:58:42So, I have slept in the spider house, erm, and I had a really good night's sleep.
00:58:49Erm, I didn't feel any spiders running over my face in the night.
00:58:53While I've been sleeping, my housemates have been hard at work.
00:58:57Graham, hello.
00:58:59Hi, good morning.
00:59:00Good morning.
00:59:02This frame was empty when I went to bed.
00:59:05She's made an absolutely beautiful web.
00:59:07Oh, yeah, look at that.
00:59:09Can you see her?
00:59:10Oh, she's tucked in up here.
00:59:11Yeah, up under the roof.
00:59:12Yeah.
00:59:13So, while I was asleep, she built that rather wonderful web.
00:59:19You mean you didn't watch?
00:59:20I didn't.
00:59:21I didn't see her doing it, no.
00:59:24That's really wonderful.
00:59:27I must be feeling more at home with spiders
00:59:30after such a good night's sleep.
00:59:32But what I'm going to see next
00:59:35is the stuff of nightmares.
00:59:39We're about to experience the dark side of the spider.
00:59:44Conflict.
00:59:47Cannibalism.
00:59:47And cold-blooded killing.
00:59:51Spiders aren't exactly a sociable lot.
00:59:57One step onto another's web, and it's a fight to the death.
01:00:04Most will kill and eat members of their own species,
01:00:07as well as any other spider they come across.
01:00:11It really is.
01:00:13A spider-eat-spider world.
01:00:21The best place to see this is down in the cellar,
01:00:26where we're studying a spider that, at first glance,
01:00:29looks like he wouldn't hurt a fly.
01:00:41Now, this is probably one room in the house
01:00:43where I did expect there to be spiders.
01:00:46Yeah, and in fact it's full of cellar spiders, quite predictably.
01:00:49So what are cellar spiders?
01:00:50Well, the cellar spider is another name for the daddy longlegs spider,
01:00:53and it's a perfect habitat for them down here.
01:01:03Yeah.
01:01:03These are the ones that live in my cupboard under the stairs.
01:01:06That's right.
01:01:06And I'm quite happy for them to stay there and just come with it.
01:01:09Yeah.
01:01:10They're a really impressive species, actually,
01:01:12and they've made a huge tangle of web around it.
01:01:18What's interesting about these is that they live communally,
01:01:20and it's one of the only spiders that we find in the UK
01:01:23that would actually tolerate each other.
01:01:28The daddy longlegs spider is one of the most recognisable spiders
01:01:32you'll find in your home.
01:01:35They originated in the tropics and prefer a warmer climate.
01:01:40So here in the UK, they're almost exclusively found in houses
01:01:44and outbuildings that protect them from our cold winters.
01:01:50Those distinctive slender legs are the daddy longlegs spider's secret weapon.
01:02:15It uses them to ensnare its prey with silk whilst keeping its body at a safe distance.
01:02:43Only once its quarry is safely cocooned does it go in for the killer bite.
01:02:53Those long, wobbly legs can perform a defensive trick too.
01:02:59There's another really interesting thing about these spiders is they've got an interesting defence mechanism.
01:03:03So if we go in with our specialised prodding stick and just give it a tap in the web.
01:03:09And they're gyrating round and round in circles.
01:03:12So he's doing that deliberately.
01:03:13It's not just that he's sort of lost his balance and he's trying to regain balance.
01:03:16That's right. Yeah, it's really characteristic of this species and it's a behaviour known as whirling.
01:03:31Usually it lasts about 30 seconds but then in some situations they've been known to do it for as long
01:03:36as two hours.
01:03:37It's constant gyrating round and round in circles.
01:03:53Why are they doing that? I mean how can that be useful as a defence mechanism?
01:03:57Yeah, well what we think is that these are attacked by visual predators.
01:04:01So predators like jumping spiders which have really, really good vision and might crawl up to the web
01:04:06and actually pinpoint the spider and attack it directly.
01:04:09So by spinning round and round like this they disappear in a bit of a blur of spider body and
01:04:14legs.
01:04:14So it makes them very difficult to pinpoint.
01:04:17But it's a mistake to think that a daddy long-legged spider will do anything to avoid a fight,
01:04:22as some spiders discover to their peril.
01:04:28This large house spider has wandered down into the daddy longleg spider's domain.
01:04:40It looks like more than a match for the spindly daddy longlegs.
01:04:59But this is the ninja of the spider world.
01:05:21Those long legs have spun a silken trap around the house spider's rear leg.
01:05:31Once the web is strengthened, the house spider will be done for.
01:06:01But before the daddy long-legged spider can finish the job,
01:06:16The house spider breaks away.
01:06:19And this time lives to fight another day.
01:06:26It's a lucky escape.
01:06:30The cellar is littered with the corpses of other, less fortunate, house spiders.
01:06:37One of the special tricks of this spider is to move into the webs of other spiders, like house spiders,
01:06:43and actually eat them in their own webs.
01:06:44Oh really?
01:06:45Yeah, so they're really voracious predators.
01:06:47They look very, very delicate, but they're actually really good at catching other spiders as well.
01:06:52The spiders in your house live in a brutal world, where it's kill or be killed.
01:07:00This poses serious problems when spiders want to mate.
01:07:09How does the male spider convince the female he's not just another meal?
01:07:18And where else would we study this than in the bedroom?
01:07:25We've filled this room with female spiders.
01:07:29Once they're established, we'll introduce the males.
01:07:33We're hoping to record the dangerous business of spider courtship and reveal the truly bizarre world of spider sex.
01:07:44Our guide is Professor Karim Vahed, an expert in spider sexual selection and sexual conflict.
01:08:06The male and the female, they just physically just look really, really different to each other.
01:08:11You often find that in spiders.
01:08:13For females, there's advantages of being big.
01:08:15The bigger they are, usually the more eggs they lay.
01:08:18For the male, there may actually be selective advantages of being small.
01:08:21For one thing, males run a very real risk of being eaten during sex in spiders,
01:08:27either before or immediately after mating.
01:08:30And it may be that if you're smaller, you're less noticeable and perhaps less likely to get eaten.
01:08:36It's a dangerous world of this guy. Let's keep our fingers crossed for him, I suppose. Good luck.
01:08:47And it seems to have located us straight away.
01:08:51Now, ooh.
01:08:53So that's aggression, is it, from the female?
01:08:54She's looking pretty aggressive at the moment.
01:08:57Wow.
01:08:57I don't think he showed enough courtship. I think he went straight in there without being gentlemanly enough to give
01:09:04her a bit of courting first.
01:09:05He was very gung-ho.
01:09:06Absolutely.
01:09:06Now, he's going to have to do a better job of courtship than that, because she's not impressed at the
01:09:11moment.
01:09:13Now, it may be, you see, that she's already mated, and she may be more interested in him as a
01:09:18meal rather than as a suitor.
01:09:20I mean, when you're a member of such a predatory species, that's a danger that a male spider faces.
01:09:25So maybe we should save him from the jaws of the female.
01:09:30For spiders, courtship isn't just polite. It's a matter of life and death.
01:09:36So males have evolved a variety of tactics to convince potential partners of their honourable intentions.
01:09:45In many spiders, the male has all sorts of vibratory signals he sends the female, and other courtship signals, like
01:09:53rocking his body.
01:09:54The male is basically saying to the female, I'm the right species, I'm a male, and I'm not food, don't
01:10:00eat me.
01:10:06Our cameras captured some of these strange rituals, with a courting orb-weaving spider and house spider.
01:10:20The male often begins by delicately plucking the female's web with its feet.
01:10:32Or sometimes bobbing its abdomen.
01:10:39If the female doesn't attack, the male moves closer.
01:10:46But even making all the right moves doesn't guarantee success.
01:11:00In some species, courtship is even more elaborate.
01:11:04For spiders with good eyesight, it's all about getting the female's attention.
01:11:12In Australia, there's a species with one of the most bizarre attention-seeking rituals in the natural world.
01:11:20The peacock-jumping spider.
01:11:39But sometimes even this extravagant display isn't enough.
01:11:55Back in the bedroom, Kareem suggests trying a more friendly female.
01:12:01So, we have a standing female. Now, this one hasn't been mated, so she should be really receptive,
01:12:06as opposed to that last one that was quite aggressive.
01:12:08Well, hopefully. And it's possible that the male may even be able to smell that difference.
01:12:12The silk has all sorts of pheromonal cues in it that the males can actually sense through sense organs on
01:12:17their feet.
01:12:17And the males, apparently, can actually sense if a female is a virgin or not.
01:12:21Great. Let's drop her in.
01:12:25It would be good if you took some of the web with her, because that will have her smell on
01:12:28it.
01:12:30Right. Let her get settled for a few seconds.
01:12:34So, this is the web of our non-mated females.
01:12:36If we incorporate that, then maybe the whole web will smell of an unmated female.
01:12:40Let's see what the male does.
01:12:42Right. Let's give him a chance for mating. Take two.
01:12:51Ah. Now, he's on the move.
01:12:55So, he's sensed where he is. He's sensed that there's a female nearby.
01:12:59Here he goes.
01:13:01He's gently tapping her.
01:13:03You do quite often find gentle tapping of the female occurs when they get close.
01:13:09And compared to that last female, she just went straight for him.
01:13:12But this one, she's just sitting there very calmly.
01:13:17It's a little bob of the abdomen.
01:13:20This time, the courtship seems to be going well.
01:13:24But when it comes to actually mating, things start to get very weird indeed.
01:13:33Now, they do things in a very, very different way to the way that we mate, for example.
01:13:38Yeah, really, we have to completely rethink our concept of sex when it comes to spiders.
01:13:43For one thing, the male doesn't really have a penis as we understand it.
01:13:47Bizarrely, they actually use their front pair of appendages, like a little pair of front legs, if you like, called
01:13:53the pedipalps.
01:13:54Now, in males, these are much larger, and they have these syringe-like enlarged ends.
01:13:59And what the male does is he uses these to transfer the sperm to the female.
01:14:03But first of all, he has to charge them up with sperm.
01:14:06So what he actually does is he has to deposit his sperm on a little sperm web.
01:14:11And then he uses the syringe-like pedipalps to suck up the sperm.
01:14:15The male will then go underneath the female and insert either one or both of his pedipalps into the female's
01:14:21reproductive openings, which are just underneath her abdomen.
01:14:27We had to be patient.
01:14:30But eventually, we managed to capture this remarkable behaviour on camera.
01:14:46So…
01:15:05As for today.
01:15:33The female false-widow
01:15:36can store the male's sperm
01:15:38and use it to fertilise her eggs
01:15:40for up to two years.
01:15:43But the male will now leave her web
01:15:45and it's unlikely he will ever meet his offspring.
01:15:55The weird world of spider sex
01:15:58is all about one thing
01:16:01making more spiders.
01:16:06In the final room of the house
01:16:09the nursery
01:16:10I'm going to meet the next generation.
01:16:21Their journey begins
01:16:23with the female spider
01:16:25weaving a cocoon of protective silk.
01:16:30Inside this she lays her eggs
01:16:33in the case of this false-widow spider
01:16:35up to a hundred of them.
01:16:37The silk protects them from predators
01:16:39and helps to control temperature and humidity.
01:16:43All spiders start their lives
01:16:45inside these silk cocoons
01:16:47but not all egg cases look alike.
01:16:50The false-widows look like little bundles
01:16:52of cotton wool.
01:16:56The house spiders are similar
01:16:58but often decorated in items
01:17:00the mother has eaten.
01:17:04While the daddy long-legged spiders
01:17:07carry their egg cases
01:17:08with them in their jaws.
01:17:14We've been watching the egg cases
01:17:16in the nursery closely
01:17:17and one's just about ready.
01:17:19So I'm going to be on hand
01:17:21to help some of our spiderlings
01:17:23take their first tentative steps
01:17:25into the world.
01:17:26Hello Graham.
01:17:28Hi Anna.
01:17:29I'm so excited about this.
01:17:31I've never seen spiders
01:17:32actually hatching out before.
01:17:34It's a great thing to see.
01:17:36In fact better than that.
01:17:37Why don't you do it?
01:17:38Oh I'd love to.
01:17:40I'd be a spider midway.
01:17:42Yeah.
01:17:44So they're definitely
01:17:45ready to come out.
01:17:45They're ready to come out
01:17:46and you're just going to
01:17:47tease them open a little
01:17:48that egg case.
01:17:49It's all ready to hatch.
01:17:51Nice and gentle.
01:17:54That's it.
01:17:59There was somebody just there.
01:18:01Just coming out.
01:18:02Yeah.
01:18:02Oh.
01:18:05It's quite tough actually.
01:18:07It's tougher than I expected it to be.
01:18:09It's got to protect them.
01:18:12Come on little spiders.
01:18:14Time to wake up
01:18:15and come out into the world.
01:18:20Oh there's one
01:18:21just walking out.
01:18:22That's it.
01:18:23They'll all start wandering.
01:18:26Just teasing
01:18:28the edge of the egg case there
01:18:30and I'm doing it really carefully
01:18:32because I don't want to
01:18:33hurt anyone inside.
01:18:37That's perfect.
01:18:40So there they are.
01:18:46Oh that's amazing.
01:18:48Yeah yeah.
01:18:48Starting the journey.
01:18:53They'll feed in a day or so.
01:18:55And what do they eat to begin with
01:18:57because presumably
01:18:57they're too small to catch anything
01:18:59at this point.
01:18:59Yeah they're not going to catch big prey
01:19:01so it's all got to be micro prey
01:19:02but they'll also take food
01:19:04that's airborne
01:19:05so even dust particles
01:19:08bits of pollen coming in
01:19:09they can't.
01:19:11So they'll start spinning immediately.
01:19:13Oh yeah yeah
01:19:13they'll make little miniature sheep webs.
01:19:15They're perfect little adult
01:19:17miniature adults.
01:19:19It's an incredible thing
01:19:20to see
01:19:20these little baby spiders
01:19:21emerging into the world.
01:19:24I feel quite maternal
01:19:25towards them Graham.
01:19:26So you should.
01:19:30A few days later
01:19:31some of the other egg cases
01:19:33in the nursery
01:19:33also begin to hatch
01:19:35and our cameras were on hand
01:19:37to capture this amazing sight.
01:19:42The false widow's egg case
01:19:44is nearly translucent
01:19:45the spiderlings
01:19:47clearly visible within.
01:19:54They'll stay close
01:19:55to the mother's web
01:19:56for several days
01:19:57before dispersing.
01:20:02The female daddy longlegs
01:20:04keeps her offspring
01:20:05even closer.
01:20:08She continues to carry
01:20:10her egg case in her jaws
01:20:11even after the spiderlings emerge.
01:20:20As these tiny spiders
01:20:22grow into adults
01:20:23they must go through
01:20:25an extraordinary
01:20:26physical process
01:20:30that begins
01:20:31while they're still
01:20:32inside the egg case.
01:20:38So very gently
01:20:40pop it down.
01:20:42Dr. Sarah Goodacre
01:20:43is going to show Tim
01:20:45this remarkable transformation
01:20:47in the largest spiderlings
01:20:49of all
01:20:50the tarantulas.
01:20:52Wow look at that
01:20:53it's just
01:20:54it's so busy in there
01:20:56look so full
01:20:57look at that
01:20:58it's just amazing.
01:20:59It's a really privileged view
01:21:01isn't it
01:21:01not many people
01:21:02get to see this.
01:21:03No absolutely not
01:21:04it's amazing to see
01:21:06the different
01:21:07development stages
01:21:09that they've gone through.
01:21:10And all of these
01:21:10very very delicate
01:21:12light shed skins
01:21:13they're the kind of evidence
01:21:14I suppose
01:21:14of these various stages
01:21:16as it becomes
01:21:17less like an egg
01:21:18and more like
01:21:18one of the giant spiders
01:21:20that we've seen.
01:21:21Unlike humans
01:21:22and other vertebrates
01:21:24spiders
01:21:24don't have a skeleton
01:21:26inside their bodies.
01:21:28They have what's called
01:21:29an exoskeleton.
01:21:31The outside of their body
01:21:32is covered
01:21:33in a tough
01:21:34rigid shell.
01:21:37To grow bigger
01:21:38spiders first need
01:21:39to molt
01:21:40their outer skin.
01:21:43Most spiderlings
01:21:44will do this
01:21:45several times
01:21:45before leaving
01:21:46the egg case.
01:21:48So we can see here
01:21:50that a small spiderling
01:21:52is actually
01:21:52in the process
01:21:53of molting.
01:21:54So this is the
01:21:55really delicate stage
01:21:56this is actually
01:21:56molting as we speak
01:21:57shedding its skin
01:21:58gently pulling its legs
01:22:00out of its exoskeleton.
01:22:02A bit like a foot
01:22:04being pulled out
01:22:04of a really tight boot.
01:22:08Spiderlings can molt
01:22:09up to 12 times
01:22:10before they are
01:22:12fully grown adults.
01:22:18It's an exhausting
01:22:19and dangerous process.
01:22:22Spiders sometimes
01:22:23finish a molt
01:22:24with fewer legs
01:22:26than when they started.
01:22:37having shed
01:22:38its old exoskeleton
01:22:40the spider
01:22:41increases
01:22:42the pressure
01:22:43inside its body
01:22:44inflating
01:22:45and stretching
01:22:46its soft
01:22:47new skin.
01:22:48This quickly
01:22:50hardens off
01:22:50to form a new
01:22:51exoskeleton
01:22:52bigger
01:22:53than the one before.
01:23:02It is just amazing
01:23:03they have to go
01:23:04through this whole
01:23:05molting process
01:23:05every individual
01:23:07every single time
01:23:08to get bigger
01:23:09and that's the only
01:23:10way they can grow.
01:23:11I suppose inside
01:23:12before each molt
01:23:13there's a kind of
01:23:14bigger spider
01:23:14just waiting to get
01:23:15out ready to
01:23:16squeeze itself
01:23:17out of that skin
01:23:17and expand
01:23:18and become a bigger
01:23:19individual.
01:23:20You can see
01:23:20just how complicated
01:23:21it all is
01:23:22to get everything
01:23:22happening in the
01:23:23right order
01:23:23with all those legs
01:23:24but you can imagine
01:23:26how vulnerable
01:23:27the spider is
01:23:27at this point.
01:23:28It looks so soft
01:23:29and delicate.
01:23:32Life is hard
01:23:33for a little
01:23:34spiderling.
01:23:37Very few
01:23:38will survive
01:23:38to adulthood.
01:23:42Yet despite
01:23:43their small size
01:23:44they can travel
01:23:45a surprisingly
01:23:46long way
01:23:48by performing
01:23:49an acrobatic
01:23:50stunt
01:23:51called
01:23:52ballooning.
01:23:53So Sarah
01:23:54we've got
01:23:55a new generation
01:23:55of spiders
01:23:56in this pot
01:23:57and they've got
01:23:57a really special
01:23:57trick haven't they?
01:23:59They have.
01:24:00Well really
01:24:00the main reason
01:24:01why I've studied
01:24:02spiders
01:24:02and I've done that
01:24:03for more than
01:24:03ten years now
01:24:05is because
01:24:05spiders have
01:24:06a particular
01:24:07ability
01:24:08that is
01:24:09I think
01:24:09completely amazing
01:24:10and that is
01:24:11that they can
01:24:12use silk
01:24:13as a sail
01:24:13and fly.
01:24:16Lots of them
01:24:17are all streaming
01:24:17down.
01:24:18streaming out.
01:24:19There's a couple
01:24:19here.
01:24:20Actually I've got
01:24:20one here on the
01:24:21top of this stick
01:24:21that keeps tipping
01:24:22its abdomen
01:24:23into the air
01:24:23and that's known
01:24:24as tiptoeing.
01:24:25So they go up
01:24:25on tiptoe
01:24:26to kind of
01:24:26get that little
01:24:27uplift
01:24:27and then shoot
01:24:28out a line
01:24:29of silk.
01:24:29You can see
01:24:30exactly the behaviour
01:24:31that you're talking
01:24:31about.
01:24:32It's sticking
01:24:32the end of its
01:24:33abdomen in the air
01:24:33so that's sending
01:24:34out a stream
01:24:34of silk
01:24:35waiting to take off.
01:24:36And from that
01:24:37position they really
01:24:38are judging it
01:24:38and now seems
01:24:39to be
01:24:40not too windy
01:24:41but just the right
01:24:42level of
01:24:43gentle gusting
01:24:44and updrafts.
01:24:45And if they decide
01:24:46they want to balloon
01:24:47they have to
01:24:48actively let
01:24:49the silk out
01:24:50and then they
01:24:51have to let go
01:24:52and let the silk
01:24:54carry them up
01:24:54up and away.
01:24:56Here goes one
01:24:57there he goes.
01:25:02Oh yeah.
01:25:04There's one just
01:25:04going off right
01:25:05into the air.
01:25:06They really are
01:25:07going for it.
01:25:08This one is still
01:25:08attached to the pot
01:25:09that's in my hand
01:25:10but it's starting to
01:25:11just as the breeze
01:25:12picks up it's starting
01:25:13to kind of swing
01:25:14out into the breeze.
01:25:16Actually you've got
01:25:17one just ballooning
01:25:18past your nose.
01:25:19I thought I could
01:25:19feel something yeah.
01:25:22One of them was
01:25:23about to go into
01:25:23my armpit which
01:25:24you know may not
01:25:25be exactly where
01:25:27I want to have
01:25:27a spider.
01:25:30And I suppose
01:25:31where they actually
01:25:32land is kind of
01:25:33down to the look
01:25:33of the drawer
01:25:34and where the wind
01:25:35takes them.
01:25:36Absolutely.
01:25:36These are the
01:25:37risk takers.
01:25:38These are the
01:25:38risk taking species
01:25:39that get everywhere.
01:25:40And how high
01:25:41can they actually fly?
01:25:42So they're going
01:25:43up to the height
01:25:43of the jet stream
01:25:44so it's hundreds
01:25:45of metres up
01:25:46potentially.
01:25:47By next week
01:25:47it could be
01:25:48somewhere else
01:25:49in continental
01:25:49Europe and by
01:25:51the week after
01:25:51could be much
01:25:53further afield
01:25:53than that even.
01:25:54And in fact
01:25:55when new islands
01:25:55pop out of the
01:25:56ocean and when
01:25:58volcanoes erupt
01:25:58often one of the
01:25:59first things that
01:26:00arrives are the
01:26:01spiders.
01:26:03Spiderlings from
01:26:04all the species
01:26:05of spider you'd
01:26:05find in the
01:26:06spider house
01:26:07have this ability
01:26:08to balloon and
01:26:09yes they may very
01:26:10well choose to
01:26:11fly and end up
01:26:12in someone else's
01:26:14back garden
01:26:14in a farmer's
01:26:16field or indeed
01:26:17in someone's
01:26:17home and that's
01:26:18actually a really
01:26:18good thing we
01:26:19should welcome
01:26:19them in because
01:26:20they do nothing
01:26:20but good eating
01:26:21the pests we
01:26:22don't want and
01:26:23also they're
01:26:23endlessly fascinating
01:26:25creatures to watch
01:26:26and learn about
01:26:26and understand.
01:26:32It's not just
01:26:33the spiderlings who
01:26:34are leaving the
01:26:35house.
01:26:36Our time here
01:26:37is also coming
01:26:38to an end
01:26:39and that means
01:26:41saying goodbye
01:26:42to all our
01:26:42spiders.
01:26:44We brought them
01:26:46here from nearby
01:26:47sheds, outhouses
01:26:48and woodland
01:26:49so now we're
01:26:51returning them to
01:26:52their former
01:26:52homes.
01:26:58By seeing how
01:26:59they lived in the
01:27:00spider house I've
01:27:01discovered a hidden
01:27:02drama that's going
01:27:03on in all our
01:27:04homes.
01:27:10And while I'll
01:27:11never love spiders
01:27:13as much as Tim,
01:27:15I now have a whole
01:27:16new appreciation of
01:27:18these much maligned
01:27:19creatures.
01:27:21They may sometimes
01:27:22give us a fright,
01:27:23but they also kill
01:27:25flies and other
01:27:26pests in bathrooms,
01:27:28bedrooms and kitchens
01:27:29all around the
01:27:30country, making our
01:27:33homes cleaner and
01:27:35healthier places to
01:27:36live.
01:27:43I think that many
01:27:44of us, when we go
01:27:45inside our houses
01:27:46and shut the door,
01:27:48like to think that
01:27:49we're shutting out
01:27:50nature.
01:27:51But we can't do
01:27:53that and actually
01:27:54neither should we
01:27:55want to.
01:27:56Now none of us
01:27:57wants to be overrun
01:27:58with spiders.
01:27:59But accepting that
01:28:00there are always
01:28:01going to be a few
01:28:01of them living in
01:28:02our homes is about
01:28:04accepting that we
01:28:05are part of the
01:28:07natural world and
01:28:08that it's in our
01:28:09houses as well as
01:28:11outside.
01:28:12So I think we
01:28:13should be happy
01:28:14that to some extent
01:28:16every house is a
01:28:18spider house.
01:28:46in the new
01:28:46We're going to be
01:28:49never going to be
01:28:49there.
01:28:49We're going to be
01:28:50We're going to be
01:28:52a little bit more
01:28:52on this.
01:28:52I think we're going to
01:28:52have a little bit more
01:28:52of our house.
01:28:52We're going to be
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