Is that kind of information passed down genetically and if so, how does that work exactly? It seems easier to explain instinctive behaviors in other animals but weaving a perfectly geometric web seems so advanced it’s hard to fathom how that level of knowledge can simply be inherited genetically. Is there something science is missing?
In: 1829
It’s because the ones that had the instinct to do it the right way were more successful surviving and reproducing. The ones whose instinct led to less efficient systems probably had less access to food or were less protected from predators. Natural selection favors the more adaptable independently of whether or not they understand the science behind their acrions.
It is naturally programmed in to their instincts. They don’t know anything, they don’t understand anything. They are basically automatons performing functions.
Now how do we know this? Because researchers decided to give mind altering substances to spiders and see what kinds of webs they did. Caffeine, alcohol, lsd… i can’t remember the whole list. It been 15 years since I came across this in a textbook.
So under the influence of these substances spiders still made the web, according to the same rules, but the results were totally off, but when they did it sober they once again did it correctly.
I think the issue is we can’t answer how it works, only how it is passed on.
We know the reasons the traits are selected and we know that it is passed on genetically. Same way we know that this is likely related to the spiders brain/nervous system.
However; why exactly they can have this inherent instinct is a bit more difficult to answer.
I would wager a guess that it probably is related to the way in which neurons build upon one another. e.g. if x neuron connects to neuron y in this specific way then right angles will look correct and release appropriate hormones after 4 inches, or whatever. Then lots of those little “rules” build into something complex like “build a web”. How those neurons connect is somehow coded into the spiders DNA.
The issue is you are asking to explain the intricacies of how a spiders brain works. I could very well be wrong but I believe we don’t really know.
Brains are complicated even at the arachnid level. We probably have an even better understanding of our own simply because that’s where the research and focus is mainly done.
How do you even begin to explain how your brain instinctively knows how to process facial expressions?
TLDR Brains are complicated squishy bio-computers with memory and programming functions we don’t fully understand yet.
Edit. Damn I had no idea this would blow up so much. Look, I’m a virologist so this is completely out of my area but there are some smarter more knowledgeable people below so go see the resources they linked! 🙂
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I guarantee you, if you have a handy, willing, women with you, you’ll figure it out. Ever heard someone say, “We were fucking like retards”?
It appears that this is directly related to the spider brain function rather than a purely mechanical response. Here are some examples of webs from spiders that have been drugged. [spiders on drugs](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effect_of_psychoactive_drugs_on_animals#:~:text=Drugs%20administered%20to%20a%20spider,the%20construction%20of%20their%20webs.)
Could it be Tutte Embedding prewired in the spider?
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tutte_embedding](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tutte_embedding)
I wouldnt be surprised if it had to do with geometry itself. Ive seen many strange webs. They are not always perfect. As long as they work. The webb we deem perfect is most durable and it covers the largest surface, also it probably has most “alert lines” and it easiest for a spider to move across it and to make.
Different [characteristics of webs](https://beyondthetreat.com/types-of-spider-webs/) are selected for in spiders coming different niches.
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It’s one of those situations where complexity comes from simplicity. The spider does inherit the urge to make webs, but the “information” it instinctively inherits is surprisingly simple. Imagine it like it doesn’t know to spin a complex web, but rather it knows instinctively “Strand, turn, strand, turn, strand, turn”, while also knowing not to get stuck on its own web (these are not the actual instructions it’s following, merely an example.) And the combination of simple rules inherited over time leads to a more complex final web.
Think of it like one of those simple robot vacuum cleaners. it’s not intelligent, it only knows simple instructions like “go forward until you hit a wall, turn if you hit a wall.” With those two simple instructions, it will run what appears to be a complex course around a room, and could even solve a maze, but it’s not the result of the vacuum cleaner actively trying to solve a maze, but just the result of simple rules.
Millions of years of evolution, every now and again a spider has a new instruction, and most will probably be detrimental to building a web, but those that survive keep going until eventually they have a simple set of rules inherited to follow that results in the webs we see today.
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