They are all spiders, but if it hadn’t said they were all spiders I could have still just looked at that guy and went “wait a minute…” He looks the least ant-like.
Comment on Spidey Senses
Evil_Shrubbery@lemmy.zip 3 months ago… arent they all spiders?
Kolanaki@pawb.social 3 months ago
Evil_Shrubbery@lemmy.zip 3 months ago
Oh, yeah - but I don’t know what species of and it’s mimicking. I perhaps that’s just how they look too & now we are body-shaming for looking to spidery (‘sup, you 6-legged no-neck with that thicc ass’) :D.
Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world 3 months ago
It’s prob mimicking a puppy or something.
Why would you put that uncensored comment out here for us to see? Now I’m going to have nightmares as if directed by John Capenter about spiders that look exactly like puppies to humans until they attack.
They are most dangerous on Halloween, by the way:
Stay vigilant. Do not become a statisic.
Evil_Shrubbery@lemmy.zip 3 months ago
Why would you put that uncensored comment out here for us to see? Now I’m going to have nightmares as if directed by John Capenter about spiders that look exactly like puppies to humans until they attack.
Oh, that’s a really cool thought!
(With a satisfying explanation for the biological size limits ofc. It can just be “magic”, idk, idea too nice to be cockblocked by a plot hole.)It would be even funnier if the arachnids lost some original traits in favour of mimicry & their new environments (like the jumping spoders in this post lost the jumping part for their ant masquerade).
Not the jumping, but like the way of life - they just figured dogs have it too good when bonded to nice humans so some jumping-dog spiders just decide they want to be pets so they cuddle & fetch their entire lives (sure the humans might fund it suspect how many live snacks they have to feed their pupper, or how no smol animals seem to hang around the house, but that’s not that different to having a cat).
Also nothing beats the feeling of a happy jumping-dog spider jump-hugging you when you get home with all its weight.
Also jumping-dog spiders - kinds of puppy eyes!
The mammal head tilt still needs some (evolutionary) work tho:
Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world 3 months ago
I think so, too. They all seem to have eight legs, more than two eyes, which don’t look like compound eyes, a cephalothorax/two body segments rather than three, a lack of antennae, etc. It would probably be easier to tell looking at them head-on so we could see their chelicerae.
Evil_Shrubbery@lemmy.zip 3 months ago
Omg, at least it’s alive in your pic, ty <3.
And yes, we are hardwired for some memetics about spider-looking things, but being amazed by them, understanding them biologically, & perhaps a bit of co-living (about as close to befriending them without them being “a pet” & still independent - you know, just seeing & saying hi to Clara every day, watching the life of a begin with ups & downs) may adapt how the association network in your brainhole is used.
(Just guessing.)
Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world 3 months ago
No problem!
That’s very accurate. I don’t mind handling tarantulas or furry jumping spiders, but shiny spiders of any kind creep me out. Bonus point for terror if there’s webbing involved. Hobo spiders are probably the worst. They’re so fast and aggressive. I still catch them and take them outside, but it still feels awful. The only exception to the mercy rule is the shower. Shower spiders go down the drain immediately.
Evil_Shrubbery@lemmy.zip 3 months ago
Poor clean spiders.
But I get what you are saying, it makes some intuitive sense.
In my case I think I’ve (as a kid) narrowed down the technical memetic part mostly to the very centre-point where the 8 lines end, so basically my brain recognising the legs (starting from the end of the legs) & then seeing how they “end” up in one narrow place (so, relatively to spider leg size, if the sternum looking from the bottom or the end part of prosoma from the top is “too tightly together” or even too perfectly round/octagonal shaped).
(And spiders differ very much in that regard, even the same one in relation to how well fed it is :D.)
Why? Idk, but doesn’t feel learned.
That I remember (again, as a kid) I was only triggered (differently than described above) by one “too smooth” species, the poor, harmless, misjudged beneficial, cute (well, as all spiders) wasp spiders.
I didn’t harm them but it’s a sad memory for me bcs the smol town (or the whole valley?) I grew up in basically doesn’t have them anymore. Bcs we hate flowers/biodiversity, but love grass & pesticides I guess. I should be glad they were even still around for me to experience them.
(No pics bcs you mentioned you only like unshaven butts & legs.)
IndustryStandard@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Kill it with
firewaterBytemeister@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Get a pet jumping spider. They don’t eat much, don’t need a large enclosure, you can handle them, and their venom is not significantly to humans (they don’t really bite anyway).
My partner has two of them on her desk, and catching them exploring or sunning themselves is a little happiness boost every time. Image
Here is one chilling out.
Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Thanks for the suggestion. I just might do that. They’re very cute.
Bytemeister@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Fair warning, they have the same problem as rats… They live just long enough for you to get really attached to them. Lifespans are about 1 year for males, and up to 3 for females.
But, if you like them, you can always get a tarantula, which can live much longer.
lars@lemmy.sdf.org 3 months ago
I’m with you 100% spiders-wise but wonder if it’s cultural rather than lizard-brained. If I had a kid whom I could convince
then would this kid be down with spiders’ company?
Iapetus@slrpnk.net 3 months ago
Nah, my mother loved spiders and we somehow regularly had fucking massive house spiders crawling around on the ceiling of the house when I was growing up. I swear she must have been bringing them into the house at one point or something, we definitely had a well above average amount of spiders for a good few years there.
There was only ever one at a time though, that I ever saw anyway, but they were those really big, hairy bastards that you can count the legs off from across the room and don’t look like they’re supposed to live in England.
Fast too, so fast, and eerily silent as they skittered, with too many angles protruding from their fat bodies. If you couldn’t see them so starkly outlined against the white ceiling, you’d never even know they were up there, and they’d cross the room in less time than it took you to walk there yourself.
My mum thought they were cool though and called them all Boris and she’d talk to them like they were bloody cats. Mad woman.
I am (thank fuck) not my mother and shit scared of most spiders*. My mothers’ behaviour did not impact my perfectly rational fear of potentially dangerous creatures crawling around my house. I know giant house spiders aren’t dangerous to humans, but plenty of other big spiders around the world are and I don’t think it’s wise to try desensitise human children to this, especially as more and more species now will be migrating due to climate change.
*Jumping spiders are cool, I like those ones. They’re surprusingly smart, and cute, and they’ve even evolved a vegetarian amongst them.
remon@ani.social 3 months ago
There is actually not a lot of them, really just a handful of species per continent (out of 53.000). It’s much easier to learn about the few medical significant spiders in your area and be cool to all the spiderbros.
Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 3 months ago
i think it’s instinctive to go “OH FUCK” when something of sufficient size skitters about, but not instinctive to specifically hate spiders
and it doesn’t matter what the skittery thing is, if a mouse scurries across my floor i’m gonna get spooked too, and i think mice are cute!
lars@lemmy.sdf.org 3 months ago
I see mice outside and I’m like “awwwwwwwww”.
I hear about people seeing spiders inside and my pulse rate rises.
faythofdragons@slrpnk.net 3 months ago
Yeah, I also think its cultural and not an instinct. We don’t have screens on the windows, so letting spiders roam freely means I don’t get flies, which are objectively worse to cohabitate with.