Spiders could theoretically eat every human on Earth in one year

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IronRinn

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I know how much the majority of GAF loves spiders and I thought this was amazing:

Spiders are quite literally all around us. A recent entomological survey of North Carolina homes turned up spiders in 100 percent of them, including 68 percent of bathrooms and more than three-quarters of bedrooms. There's a good chance at least one spider is staring at you right now, sizing you up from a darkened corner of the room, eight eyes glistening in the shadows.

Spiders mostly eat insects, although some of the larger species have been known to snack on lizards, birds and even small mammals. Given their abundance and the voraciousness of their appetites, two European biologists recently wondered: If you were to tally up all the food eaten by the world's entire spider population in a single year, how much would it be?

Martin Nyffeler and Klaus Birkhofer published their estimate in the journal the Science of Nature earlier this month, and the number they arrived at is frankly shocking: The world's spiders consume somewhere between 400 million and 800 million tons of prey in any given year. That means that spiders eat at least as much meat as all 7 billion humans on the planet combined, who the authors note consume about 400 million tons of meat and fish each year.

Or, for a slightly more disturbing comparison: The total biomass of all adult humans on Earth is estimated to be 287 million tons. Even if you tack on another 70 million-ish tons to account for the weight of kids, it's still not equal to the total amount of food eaten by spiders in a given year, exceeding the total weight of humanity.
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WARNING: Freaky spider GIFS in article.
 
Earth_on_Fire_Animated_global_warming.gif
 
Please don't create threads about news stories whose sole point is to horrify and appall people. It doesn't improve the forum to make people tiptoe in between threads about mundane atrocities just to participate in the OT. Real news stories of cultural import are fine, just not random terrible things.
 
Toxi said:
Fake news.
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Why are you looking at me like that?

hydrophilic attack said:
Please don't create threads about news stories whose sole point is to horrify and appall people. It doesn't improve the forum to make people tiptoe in between threads about mundane atrocities just to participate in the OT. Real news stories of cultural import are fine, just not random terrible things.
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May ModBot have mercy on my soul and my thread-making privileges.
 
hydrophilic attack said:
Please don't create threads about news stories whose sole point is to horrify and appall people. It doesn't improve the forum to make people tiptoe in between threads about mundane atrocities just to participate in the OT. Real news stories of cultural import are fine, just not random terrible things.
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I've never resonated with a message board policy more than right now.
 
The world's spiders consume somewhere between 400 million and 800 million tons of prey in any given year. That means that spiders eat at least as much meat as all 7 billion humans on the planet combined, who the authors note consume about 400 million tons of meat and fish each year.
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So, spiders eat more meat than humans?

(Yeah, I know, insects and stuff as opposed to cows, but still).
 
"Theoretically"

As in "Theoretically, if we didn't have insecticide*, fire or even a good pair of boots, spiders could eat every human on earth."
 
Spiders were my very first fear. As a young child you could say I was arachnophobic (would have panic attacks and 'see' and 'feel' spiders everywhere after I'd seen or touched one) and I lived in a house with a basement so there were spiders everywhere.

By my teenage years I had conquered the fear and now have nothing but admiration for the little critters. They are incredible animals and this stat simply adds to their mystique for me.
 
hydrophilic attack said:
Please don't create threads about news stories whose sole point is to horrify and appall people. It doesn't improve the forum to make people tiptoe in between threads about mundane atrocities just to participate in the OT. Real news stories of cultural import are fine, just not random terrible things.
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Relax.
 
Spider-Man Homecoming will be big release...but thats a reach.
 
hydrophilic attack said:
Please don't create threads about news stories whose sole point is to horrify and appall people. It doesn't improve the forum to make people tiptoe in between threads about mundane atrocities just to participate in the OT. Real news stories of cultural import are fine, just not random terrible things.
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Sorry you find this disturbing. I find it highly interesting.
 
I've had an idea for years of a game or movie, that takes place in a world where all animals one day start hunting and attacking humans.

Would be a cool co-operative game.
 
Retro said:
"Theoretically"

As in "Theoretically, if we didn't have insecticide*, fire or even a good pair of boots, spiders could eat every human on earth."
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Insecticide doesn't work particularly well on spiders (or other arachnids like scorpions). The reason it works so well on insects is because of the way they breathe - air flows through them unregulated. But spiders have lungs, so they can hold their breath. And they do. I once sprayed a black widow with a bug spray that said right on the can how great it was for spiders. I drowned the little shit in that stuff. It curled up and didn't move...for almost 5 minutes, until the pool of bug spray it was in dried up. Then it uncurled and crawled back up into the bush where it was sitting in the first place.

Spiders are awesome.
 
Leondexter said:
Insecticide doesn't work particularly well on spiders (or other arachnids like scorpions). The reason it works so well on insects is because of the way they breathe - air flows through them unregulated. But spiders have lungs, so they can hold their breath. And they do. I once sprayed a black widow with a bug spray that said right on the can how great it was for spiders. I drowned the little shit in that stuff. It curled up and didn't move...for almost 5 minutes, until the pool of bug spray it was in dried up. Then it uncurled and crawled back up into the bush where it was sitting in the first place.

Spiders are awesome.
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Fire it is, then.
 
Spiders are bros though. Keeping bugs out of my place. Sure they have their side of my place but it's a small price to pay
 
Ooccoo said:
8RcQFre.gif
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What happens if someone has a heart attack because you posted this? Would it be classified in the same way as this guy? Just wondering. Nowadays it's hard to tell.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/john-ra...re-inducing-tweet-kurt-eichenwald-hate-crime/
The grand jury’s indictment, dated Monday, said the defendant used a “deadly weapon,” namely “a Tweet and a Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) and an Electronic Device and Hands, during the commission of the assault.”
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