But do they pet them?
Spider cats
Submitted 1 month ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to science_memes@mander.xyz
https://mander.xyz/pictrs/image/f7519efb-2e53-4cdd-a857-4bc78ec890f5.jpeg
Comments
Xyre@lemmus.org 1 month ago
bdonvr@thelemmy.club 1 month ago
From another comment: aussie.zone/comment/7627328
Young spiders have sometimes been observed to grab the frogs, examine them with their mouthparts, and then release them unharmed.
ericatty@lemmy.ml 1 month ago
In the common vernacular, the spider gives them kissy kisses
Lemminary@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Tenderly
Zerush@lemmy.ml 1 month ago
Hunting spiders are very smart animals, even the little jumping spiders. They all know very well what they are doing, because they have to make plans and strategics to catch their prey, something what the spiders with webs don’t need.
CitizenKong@lemmy.world 1 month ago
There is a very cool sci-fi novel called Children of Time in which jumping spiders are accidentally uplifted and evolve into an intelligent species.
psud@aussie.zone 1 month ago
And the jumping spiders have very cute faces, with their two large forward facing eyes
Though another hunting spider common in my bit of the world - the huntsman spider - isn’t nearly as cute, though we tolerate them in our houses, and they like our houses. They’re camouflaged for eucalypt bark, and they think they’re hidden when standing on flat painted wallboard
Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de 1 month ago
That frog looks like it’s about to start barking like terrier.
xilliah@beehaw.org 1 month ago
If the frog was the size of a terrier it wouldn’t be the frog I would be afraid of.
Cruxifux@lemmy.world 1 month ago
The videos of it are cute too. The little frogs follow the spiders around and do a little squishy squishy underneath them where they’re safe and protected by their big strong spider pals.
xkforce@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Spider frog! spider frog! Does whatever a spider frog does!
WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world 1 month ago
If a frog had the proportional strength, speed and agility of a spider, would that be an upgrade or a downgrade?
skylestia@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 month ago
omg that’s adorable
cypherpunks@lemmy.ml 1 month ago
The spiders tell themselves that they’re keeping the tiny frogs around because they’re killing pests and also kind of cute but, really, there is a brain parasite in the frogs’ feces - tiny amounts of which are all over the floor of the spiders’ burrows - which makes the spider believe this.
sirico@feddit.uk 1 month ago
Froggy has the very serious face on
FooBarrington@lemmy.world 1 month ago
If the spider ever thinks they’re not serious about the job, they’ll get eaten
gingernate@lemmy.world 1 month ago
He’s being held as a slave by a massive spider poor guy! Hahaha
tocopherol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 month ago
Is the frog captive though? I had a cat that became mine after it starting killing the mice in my garage, so it was mutually beneficial, maybe the frog and the spider have an understanding.
Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works 1 month ago
I hope the teeny frogs give the spiders hell like cats do to us.
LiveLM@lemmy.zip 1 month ago
Somewhere in the world, a frog-cat is knocking down a spider-flowerpot from the spider-counter right now
No_Eponym@lemmy.ca 1 month ago
So many spiders have fallen prey to the cats kept by humans, the great oppressors of spiders. And yet, instead of rising up against this oppression, some spiders have internalized the image of the oppressor, adopted the guidelines of the oppressor, and now seek to build the spider-frog equivalent of a “Catio.”
tooclose104@lemmy.ca 1 month ago
I only don’t hate this because I love frogs. If the spider lives frog too, then I can tolerate it.
AFC1886VCC@reddthat.com 1 month ago
Let’s not call them spider cats. Let’s call them spider thralls. That sounds more badass.
Des@hexbear.net 1 month ago
and i thought these types of spiders were just big dummies
also this just reminded me to finish reading Children of Time!
jballs@sh.itjust.works 1 month ago
Children of Time is an amazing book! If you just finished, I hope you’re doing Children of Ruin next. I didn’t think it was quite as good, but still worth a read.
SplashJackson@lemmy.ca 1 month ago
So wait, cats eat things that’ll eat human babies?
TheKingBee@lemmy.world 1 month ago
yeah, rats.
we’ve generally solved the rat problem, but that was the initial pitch, then their cute faces hypnotized us.
SplashJackson@lemmy.ca 1 month ago
Nice
phx@lemmy.ca 1 month ago
Also, if the spiders get really hungry then there’s an easy lunch nearby
thesporkeffect@lemmy.world 1 month ago
This is technically true of human pets
phx@lemmy.ca 1 month ago
Uhhhh, I hate that you’re technically correct in this
Omega_Haxors@lemmy.ml 1 month ago
D61@hexbear.net 1 month ago
The Odd Couple remake for the 2020’s is pretty cool, not gonna lie.
Instigate@aussie.zone 1 month ago
So it looks like the frogs mentioned in this meme are microhylids, and for some further info:
This is also super cute behaviour:
Apparently the spiders’ protectiveness can also be pretty overt:
And some ideas on why this might be an example of mutualistic behaviour rather than commensalism:
Source: scientificamerican.com/…/tiny-frogs-and-giant-spi…
CosmicTurtle@lemmy.world 1 month ago
I’m imagining the scene from Step Brothers:
Spider: Can you eat the ants but not my eggs?
Frog: YUP! Can you protect me from other things that want to eat me?
Spider: YUP! Did we just become best friends?!
Frog: YUP!
rockerface@lemm.ee 1 month ago
Spiders grabbing frogs and releasing them is like humans grabbing their cats and going for snuggles
bane_killgrind@lemmy.ml 1 month ago
fsxylo@sh.itjust.works 1 month ago
I was worried that the spider ends up eating the frog but they’re actually buddies!
GreatDong3000@lemm.ee 1 month ago
Spiders more civilized than some of my coworkers
beebarfbadger@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
My coworkers also always eat any frog I place between their mandibles.
Lemminary@lemmy.world 1 month ago
That is too fucking adorable
newtraditionalists@beehaw.org 1 month ago
Thank you for this high effort reply. Super interesting and cool to learn about!