The language of the Arachnid

[Wild Monkey]

Once, a tiny Brown Recluse ballooned next to my ear, alerting me to its presence by barking into it. For an instant, the entire house almost came down upon me, and in my panic, I dispatched the tiny creature. I have heard Spiders Bark at me many times in my life. Has anyone else heard them speak? How smart are Spiders? Are they capable of language?

 

[crashlanding]

A little early to be hitting the sauce, isn't it?

 

[338weatherby]

I'll have what he's having!

 

[M77Fan]

Now this is super interesting. I have to admit I try to keep spiders at a distance from my ears so I can't say that I have heard them bark. And while I have seen other spiders ballooning, I didn't know recluses did that, but why not. And certainly insects do have ways to talk to each other, so why not barking spiders. I gotta watch this thread to see if anyone else has input.

You might be interested to watch some of this guy's videos of peacock spiders. Nature's fascinating adaptions.

Peacockspiderman

In 2005 I stumbled across Maratus volans in Sydney and after learning that it was suspected to spread out a pair of colourful flaps I played around with it. At the time nobody had observed this behaviour, let alone photographed or filmed it, and the female was unknown to science. In 2008 I...

www.youtube.com

A good one that shows the males of several species doing mating dances is this one where he has the the song "Staying Alive" playing. It shows a variety of males dancing for the females. The song is apt. Wikipedia says in part "The abdominal display is used in courtship and, in at least one species, also in aggressive interactions with rival males. If the male continues his dance when the female is not interested, she will often attempt to attack, kill, and feed on him; she may also do this after mating (sexual cannibalism). It is a jungle out there.




And if you look for spider sounds, this turns up:

 

[Axl]

A little early to be hitting the sauce, isn't it?

He's a light drinker. Starts when it it gets light.