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Fierce Little Spider
by Chad Norman
2009-03-08 09:54:26 |
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It was a hot afternoon here in Miami, but there was a cool Northern wind that made it feel comfortable. I was watching the clear sky, seeing how the clouds were being moved rapidly by the wind.
Sitting on a chair in the back porch, my eyes converged on a lonely little crab spider. It was standing up-side down on its web hanging from the eave of the canopy. It had collected a few small bugs that were enclosed in a cocoon-like wrapping with the spider’s silk.
It was all quiet when, all of a sudden, a bee flew right into the web about six inches from where the spider was standing. The bee got tangled with the web and could not fly away. The spider did not waste any time; it quickly moved close to the bee and proceeded to wrap it around with its silk – it was a big catch. I am sure the spider figured it had food for a few days.
Without any warning, as the spider started to go around its new and big pray, the bee started to battle with the spider, apparently, the bee did not want to be the spider’s next meal. The bee would curl up trying to stab the spider with its pointy sting protruding from its rear end. The spider reacted with such a fury, it was amazing. It would fiercely jump around the bee trying to avoid being stung and at the same time trying to incapacitate the bee with its silk. These horrific moves were repeated a few times.
The battle lasted a few seconds , the web shook violently as the two insects fought for their lives. Apparently, the bee was successful in stopping the spider because the spider stopped, and the “would be the next meal” fluttered its wings intensely with such a force that it got free and flew away.
The spider stayed still after the bee left, it did not move, it looked like it was dead. A couple of minutes passed and I did not see any movement – I thought it was definitively dead. I was intrigued, just to make sure, I picked up a small twig and touched the spider. It reacted by moving its legs, but it did not move. Seemed like the spider had been stung, but it was not dead. It was recuperating from such a ferocious fight, what a brave little spider!
This encounter that I had just witnessed reminded me of the wild beasts in the plains of Africa where a predator tries to kill another animal for food and the victim would put up a fight but, succumb to the attacker. What I witnessed was a microscopic version of that but, this time the victim got away.
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