Shocking, I know! I always thought spiders were these absolutely superior
creatures in the world of insects, and wherever they are, they just absolutely
dominate the place. Using advanced techniques like setting up traps (spider
webs) or simply by having way more arms than any opponent: fighting against a
spider probably isn't a lot of fun and rarely successful. At least that's what I
tought.
But that changed when recently I was out in nature for a little hike. Luckily I
wasn't alone, but I had my father and step father guiding me. I honestly would
have a hard time telling you the kinds of trees or birds you can find out there
in the forrests of Rhineland-Palatinate, but those two really know a lot about
this kind of stuff.
However, after I really wanted to have a break and our tour came to a halt, I
rewarded myself with a sandwich and curiously watched a spider building up its
web (knowing myself I almost certainly made a joke about web development).
That's when my father began educating me about the microcosm, and the fact that
spiders are in fact **not** far superior to most other insects.
Now, that doesn't mean that spiders are bad hunters or in any way weak. What it
means is: Many many other insects have spiders on their menu. I absolutely love
the way my father paraphrased this:
> Spiders are basically little pearls of protein, which is very valuable in the
> world of insects. That's why they have to watch their back, pretty much any
> other insect that can even remotely fight is after them.
"Pearls of protein", I just love that description. And honestly it's true.
Technically seen spiders are even eaten by humans (the big ones, at least as far
as I've seen). In Southeast Asia they are fried, sometimes after dunking them in
dough, and regularly eaten as street food. To be fair, I haven't actually tried
spiders myself, but I can imagine traditionally, when living in a jungle, that
protein was very valuable for indigenous people living there in the past.
Anyways we continued our walk and shortly before coming back to our car we
actually saw a wasp fighting a spider sitting in its net. (I mean, yes, we were
indeed inspecting every single spider web we could find on our way back...)
Unfortunately we had to move on, so I can't tell who won the battle. But it
really opened my eyes that a spider's life can be quite tough, and even spiders
deserve some love too.
