Spiders are an under-appreciated group of animals for thinking about the evolution of mind, brain, and behavior.
Spiders don't just sit in their webs waiting for snacks. They also burrow, pounce, decorate, dance, balloon, plan, cache, and (perhaps) count.
How do animal sensory systems interact with behavior to form the neuroethology of information processing and decision-making? How can behavioral ecology inform conservation, pest management, and biosecurity practices?
Dr. Ximena Nelson investigates topics like these by studying the behavior and physiology of alpine parrots (kea) and jumping spiders.
For this Many Minds podcast, she discusses why spiders are an under-appreciated group of animals for thinking about the evolution of mind, brain, and behavior.
Listen with the below player.
"Maybe your idea of spiders is a bit like mine was. You probably know that they have eight legs, that some are hairy. Perhaps you imagine them spending most of their time sitting in their webs — those classic-looking ones, of course — waiting for snacks to arrive. Maybe you consider them vaguely menacing, or even dangerous. Now this is not all completely inaccurate — spiders do have eight legs, after all — but it’s a woefully incomplete and drab caricature. Your idea of spiders, in other words, may be due for a refresh.
My guest today is Dr. Ximena Nelson, Professor in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Canterbury, in New Zealand. Ximena is the author of the new book, The Lives of Spiders. It’s an accessible and stunningly illustrated survey of spider behavior, ecology, and cognition.
In this conversation, Ximena and I do a bit of ‘Spiders 101’. We talk about spider senses — especially how spiders use hairs to detect the minutest of vibrations and how they see, usually, with four pairs of eyes. We talk about web-making — which, by the way the majority of spiders don’t do — and silk-making — which all do, but for more reasons than you may realize. We talk about how spiders hunt, jump, dance, pounce, plan, decorate, cache, balloon, and possibly count. We talk about why so many spiders mimic ants. We take up the puzzle of stabilimenta (i.e., web 'decoration'). We talk about whether webs constitute an extended sensory apparatus — like a gigantic ear — and why spiders are an under-appreciated group of animals for thinking about the evolution of mind, brain, and behavior."
View the show notes for links with detailed information.
Learn more about Templeton World Charity Foundation's Diverse Intelligences priority.
Templeton World Charity Foundation's Diverse Intelligences is a multiyear, global effort to understand a world alive with brilliance in many forms. Its mission is to promote open-minded, forward-looking inquiry in animal, human, and machine intelligences. We collaborate with leading experts and emerging scholars from around the globe, developing high-caliber projects that advance our comprehension of the constellation of intelligences.
Many Minds is a project of the Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute (DISI), made possible through a grant from TWCF to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The Many Minds podcast is hosted and produced by Kensy Cooperrider, with help from Assistant Producer Urte Laukaityte. Creative support is provided by DISI Directors Erica Cartmill and Jacob Foster. Artwork featured as the podcast badge is by Ben Oldroyd. Transcripts are created by Sarah Dopierala.
