Why do Spiders Spin Webs?
Spiders are special bugs that have eight legs and its body will be divided into two parts called head and abdomen. The spiders apart from having 8 legs also possess sticky silk and form the web. It is observed that not all spiders will create the webs. The spiders that form the webs do that primarily to catch the bugs. The spider webs that are created are made of silk strands which are so sticky. So the bug that gets into the web is going to get trapped and they fall as prey to the spiders. Formation of the web is a way for spiders to catch the bugs in order to eat them.
As the spiders eat the bugs, they are very useful for humans. This is because the spiders will do scavenging of the bugs and other flies which are problematic to humans. The reason behind the production of silk by the spiders was to create webs. There are few more reasons for it to happen. The spiders which migrated from water to terrestrial region during the Devonian era started to make silk to safeguard their bodies and eggs. Spiders further used the silk they produced for hunting purpose. The spiders build the webs in a much planned manner. First they will lay a guide line as well as signal line, then they will start putting bush webs and later they will form aerial webs.
The silk is formed by the paired spinneret glands that are present on the abdomen. The glands produce the threads for a specific aim like forming safety line or silk that is sticky for trapping the prey or silk that is very thin used for covering purpose. The various kinds of glands in the spider can generate various types of silks. Few spiders were able to create about 8 different silks in their life time. The spiders create the web for their food collection purpose and they spend lot of energy for this. The proteins are utilized for the production of silk. Spiders were known to eat the webs after sometime in order to regain energy lost in spinning. Thus recycling of the silk also will be done by the spiders.
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