Why does a spider takes notice of my presence but not an ant? Is it that although they’re both insects they have different levels of intelligence?

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ELI5

There was a couple of instances where a spider stopped in his track as soon as he notices me while an ant acts like I’m nothing else than an obstacle that can be climbed on.

Also, the bigger the spider is, the more cautious seems to be around people.

Is this a sign of various degrees of intelligence on insects or is it their natural predator nature that makes spiders to be more aware of their surroundings?

I’ve seen spiders stand still when I’m looking at them and start moving once my back is turned. I imagine they can see my eyes and recognise what they are for.

In: Biology

4 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Human intelligene is extremely general, while Insects have much more specialized intelligence. Ants are probably a little less complex than spiders, but they have very different roles and sensory abilities.

Ants are designed to function as a component in a larger machine. Most of their brainpower is centered around navigation, recognizing pheromones, and foraging. It doesn’t matter if individual ants die; the ants only need to respond if something starts eat a whole bunch of them. The basic evolutionary survival unit is the hive, not the individual. Ants have “formic acid” (its just latin for “ant acid”) which makes them a worse food than other bugs.

Spiders don’t care about pheromone trails, which leaves them more brainpower for predator/prey thoughts. Spiders usually have good eyes, which ants do not. Ants are too small to be good food for birds, but spiders are often bigger and juicier. A spider usually cares about living long enough to mate.

Insects are funky things. Ants and Spiders are both broad families. The generalizations I make here will not apply to all species.

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