• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • WordPress
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
Science Update

Science Update

Sharing Science | Satisfying Curiosity | Debunking BS

  • Spotlights
  • Reality Check
  • Why Is It?
  • Radio Archives
  • Sciup @ School
Home » Radio Archive » Daily Show » Spider Sex

Spider Sex

April 8, 2008
https://podcast.scienceupdate.com/080408_sciup_spid.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window

BOB HIRSHON (host)
Why spiders play possum. I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

Male nursery web spiders have a unique courtship behavior, according to behavioral ecologist Trine Bilde of the University of Aarhus in Denmark.

TRINE BILDE (University of Aarhus):
The male collects prey, which it wraps in white silk and it presents the prey to the female and this is what we call a nuptual gift. The female actually requires this nuptual gift in order to accept this male for a mating.

HIRSHON:
And to make sure the female spider pays attention to the gift and not to him, the mal discretely pretends to be dead.

TRINE BILDE:
Playing dead makes the female sort of focus on the food gift and once she’s occupied with consuming the gift she’s more likely to then accept the copulation.

HIRSHON:
I’m Bob Hirshon for AAAS, the science society.

Category: Daily ShowTag: Animal Behavior, Biology, Wildlife
Previous Post:Mosquito Repellent
Next Post:Honeybee Royal Jelly

Sidebar

Radio Program Archives

Want to learn more about the brain? The environment? Here you can browse the topics that come up regularly on Science Update.

Search the Archives

Categories

  • Daily Show
  • Station Download
  • Weekly Show

Find By Tag

  • 2020
  • Acoustics & Sound
  • Aging
  • Animal Behavior
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Astronomy & Space
  • Biology
  • Brain Science
  • Bugs
  • Chemistry
  • Children & Families
  • cicadas
  • Climate & Weather
  • Communications
  • Computer Science
  • Economics & Business
  • Education
  • Energy
  • Engineering & Technology
  • Environment & Conservation
  • Genetics & Evolution
  • Geology
  • Marine Science
  • Materials Science
  • Mathematics
  • Medicine & Health
  • Microbiology
  • Nanotechnology
  • Nutrition & Food Science
  • Paleontology & Dinosaurs
  • Physics
  • Plants & Agriculture
  • Political Science
  • Reality Check
  • Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • Sports & Fitness
  • spotlight
  • Spotlight Bugs
  • Terrorism & War
  • Why Is It? Questions
  • Wildlife
  • Year in Review

Find By Date

Science Update
  • About Science Update
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

Mayan Honeybee hives
House sparrow wearing top hat rides aboard a red fireworks rocket

Copyright © 2023 · Springtail Media LLC · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Pongos