How does each individual spider innately know what the architecture of their web should be without that knowledge being taught to them?

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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?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

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.

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