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
This is hypothetical musings, but what does the spider experience?
It starts off by using a few strands to prop up and connect the main structure. By doing the first few strands it knows how tall/wide it is, and it starts roughly in the middle. Then it spirals from a center point, using its own arms/legs as measurements and knowing the width between adjacent spirals it can easily continue a spiral without any worry about having to know or understand the whole structure.
So possibly the spider evolved to: i) find a rough area it can spin a web in, ii) set and connect support lines, iii) find roughly the center, and iv) keep the spiral consistent.
I’m guessing that all of these steps have a learning curve with spiders, but given they spin one every day, it’s something they improve very quickly, we just don’t see the learning process.
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