I heard most of that because I happened to be in the car when it aired. What I find even more amazing than the silk is the enormously complex behaviors associated with it. That so few neurons can produce such elaborate manipulations of an extremely complex set of tools is really astonishing.
rrhainsays
One of these days, I’ll be able to watch an orb spider create the frame structure. I often come across orb webs with these long frame strands that have me wondering how the spider managed to get a line from this spot all the way over there without any clear path that does involve dragging a heck of a lot more silk behind them until they finally get to the right spot. But, maybe they do just that. I’ve never seen it. I’ve seen them building the trap spiral and I think I’ve even caught them in the middle of doing the framing spiral, but I’ve not seen them building the frame itself.
Ridanasays
@ rrhain: Probably something like this, though probably on a smaller scale:
I heard most of that because I happened to be in the car when it aired. What I find even more amazing than the silk is the enormously complex behaviors associated with it. That so few neurons can produce such elaborate manipulations of an extremely complex set of tools is really astonishing.
One of these days, I’ll be able to watch an orb spider create the frame structure. I often come across orb webs with these long frame strands that have me wondering how the spider managed to get a line from this spot all the way over there without any clear path that does involve dragging a heck of a lot more silk behind them until they finally get to the right spot. But, maybe they do just that. I’ve never seen it. I’ve seen them building the trap spiral and I think I’ve even caught them in the middle of doing the framing spiral, but I’ve not seen them building the frame itself.
@ rrhain: Probably something like this, though probably on a smaller scale: