Energy stored in the front legs of gangly orb-weaving spiders helps them live to mate another day
For some male spiders, love is all-consuming. In a grisly practice known as sexual cannibalism, females of many spider species devour their mates after procreation, either for sustenance or to keep their reproductive options open.
The spiders fling themselves off their mates so fast that ordinary cameras cannot capture the behavior. So the researchers used a Beijing advertising agency’s special high-speed camera to film the mating spiders. Breaking down the dramatic escapes at 1,500 frames per second, the scientists calculated just how fast these males were moving. The spiders, which on average were only about three millimeters long, launched themselves at speeds approaching 88 centimeters per second.
Surprisingly, the escaped males actually do return to their cannibalistic mates. During mating, they fasten a silk “safety line” to their partner. And after they catapult, they crawl back along this line to mate with her again. They can repeat this cycle up to six times.
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