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Female Orb Web Spider - Araneus diadematus

The spiders main primary function is to quickly immobilize and subdue its prey and start the digesting process. The venom can contain many different substances which can include amino acids, proteolytic enzymes and neurotoxic polypeptides. This adult female has not quite finished her meal here. Once a spider has caught its prey and will want to eat its food the first step is to literally vomit a digestive fluid all over the food and then to chew the item with the jaws (chelicerae), then on to suck up the fluid back into the mouth together with the liquified meat. Some spiders can produce at least six different kinds of silk and if spiders were scaled to the same size as us it is said that the Web would be strong enough to catch a helicopter. It has also been claimed that a cable of silk as thick as a thumb woven from spider silk would be able to bear the weight of a jumbo jet.

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Uploaded on March 11, 2022
Taken on September 11, 2021