Story By: Bell Lowry, Staff Writer
As a whole, spiders are very misunderstood creatures. It is innate for most people to fear spiders with no past experiences needed to form this fear. But what most people don't consider is the important impact that spiders have on our ecosystem and how fascinating each individual species can be.
One of these species is the common jumping spider that one could most likely find in their own backyard if they looked hard enough. Many people keep these fluffy creatures as pets because of how great they are.
The first thing that makes them unique is that they don't build a stereotypical spiderweb, instead they build little sleeping bag adjacent webs that they use for a very important activity; sleeping.
Most spiders do not sleep but the jumping spider does. Scientists have discovered that in their sleep, jumping spiders can reach a stage of unconsciousness that is very similar to the REM stage in humans, which is the stage that allows us to dream. This means that at this moment in time there is most likely a little fluffy spider dreaming about hopping around and eating bugs and other things that spiders do.
Scientists have also discovered that jumping spiders (specifically the fringed jumping spider) are the smartest spiders on earth, their intelligence being compared to that of cephalopods, also known as octopi and squids. They have the capability to recognize human faces after repeated exposure and they are very calculated in their jumping techniques. For example, fleas and grasshoppers are considered excellent jumpers purely based on their height to body ratio, but this doesn't mean that they jump with a destination in mind. Jumping spiders do, and when they are young and mess up, they retain that mistake and that information and use it to improve in the future.
Overall jumping spiders are very naturally inquisitive and gentle towards humans. They pose barely any threat to people, much like most other spiders. The more that people learn about and understand these creatures, the less they will fear them, and the more the spiders will have a chance of surviving a human home.
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