SUMIT CHAKRABARTI,
IN 2018, SCIENTIST WITH THE INDIAN COUNCIL OF FORESTRY RESEARCH AND EDUCATION, HELPED ESTABLISH INDIA’S FIRST ARACHNARIUM FOR SPIDERS IN JABALPUR, MADHYA PRADESH. THE MOTIVE WAS TO PROVIDE A NATURAL ENVIRONMENT TO THE SPECIES THAT PEOPLE USUALLY DON’T THI
They are key to maintaining biodiversity in forests. They protect standing crops by eating harmful insects and pests. In households, they eat a lot of insects that are not easily visible to the naked eye. Spiders are found everywhere— from dry deserts to snow-capped mountains—and being predators, they help maintain the food chain.
There are over 48,000 species in the world of which about 1,500 are found in India.
Some spiders can stay under water for over half an hour; some can survive temperatures as low as -30°C. There is also a spider that can eat fish five times its size. Most spiders
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1. is a social spider that hunts in groups; 2. can hunt preys five times its size; 3. or the redback spider is India’s most poisonous;
4. web threads are stronger than steel wires of similar width; 5. does not use web to trap prey but hunts
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insect, but they are not; they are arachnids. They have two main body parts and eight legs, while insects usually have three main body parts and six legs.
Apart from a category of small spiders, most are venomous. Their salivary glands also produce their venom. They are not deadly to humans because the volume of venom injected is quite small. However, some spiders are quite venomous. The redback spider is India’s most venomous. It is found in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh and its venom is used in making medicines. Over 100 homeopathic medicines use spider venom.
The thread of webs spun by spiders is stronger than thread of steel of the same width. In
Europe, US and Australia, there are studies on producing the spider thread artificially and using it to make bulletproof vests, insulating wires, surgical sutures and disposable cups. The level of international research is quite high. In India, we are still at the stage of taxonomy and photography. However, there are a few universities that are studying the presence of spiders in agricultural farms and their capacity to eat pests.