The home of a giant orb spider is a huge web mansion in the wild. These arachnids spin oval shaped webs that can reach mammoth sizes, big enough so that other spiders can live in them without the giant orb owner ever knowing it has a tenant. Giant orb spiders trap large prey in these sticky webs and inject them with paralyzing venom before wrapping them up to be eaten later.
Long Legs: The giant orb spider has long legs that keep its body propped up so it can crawl over its sticky web without becoming tangled in the strands. The creature's legs are also covered with touch-sensitive hairs that alert the spider to prey.
Angled Web: This spider usually spins its web at a slight angle above the ground. Built this way, less sunlight reflects off the silky strands and flying insects can't see them-and will crash right into the web.
A Real Webslinger[]
Male spiders are dwarfed by the females.
Giant orb spiders live in the world's largest spider webs, which can measure up to 20 feet across. The silky strands are so thick and so strong that birds can fly into them and become tangled rather than breaking through, and even humans have difficulty if they accidentally walk through these webs. These spiders' webs can stay intact for several years, and natives in Australia and New Guinea will sometimes take these webs and use them as fishing nets!
Houseguest: While female giant orb spiders have legspans up to 8 inches long, males are several times smaller. In fact, males often live near the edges of a female's web and snag small prey without the female ever noticing.
Marathon Man: The size difference between males and females shows in the extreme during mating. The male is so small that it takes him as long as 15 hours to fertilize the eggs inside a female.
Save a Snack[]
- A giant orb spider's web is so strong that animals, such as a large cricket, that would destroy the webs of other spiders become tangled in the silky strands.
- Vibrations made by the insect's struggles alert the resident spider to the victim's presence; the spider runs over and injects a dose of venom.
- With the cricket paralyzed, the orb spider wraps the victim up in a ball of silk. The hunter hangs this bundle in its web and returns later to eat the victim.
Trading Card[]
Trivia[]
- The Did You Know? section is missing the word "be" in the phrase "appear to be made of".
- The giant orb spider is featured on several Monster Mania cards:
- The giant orb spider is first featured in Weave Through The Web on Monster Mania 27.
- Coincidentally, both the spider and the mania card share the same number within their respective groups.
- It is later featured in Backyard Jungle on Monster Mania 32.
- It is again featured in Odd Creature Out on Monster Mania 61.
- Finally, it is featured in Animal All-Stars on Monster Mania 105.
- The giant orb spider is first featured in Weave Through The Web on Monster Mania 27.