Spider White Lady: Star connoisseur or mathematical genius? How does a spider have such supernatural navigational abilities? (11 photos)

The Namib Desert is the oldest on the planet. It has existed for more than 80 million years. Local living organisms had a lot of time to adapt to local conditions. But no one did it better than the White Lady - the world's only spider navigator!





The White Lady almost never comes to the surface during the day. Too little precipitation, too high air temperature. She prefers to hide in holes up to 40 centimeters deep. The shelter is made according to all the rules of fortification art. The entrance is located at the base of a large dune and is covered with a canopy; the sun never shines inside. The walls are carefully woven with silk, which prevents the collapse of bulk material.



Finding such a shelter is almost impossible.

Of her own free will, the spider leaves the hole only in the dark. Her light body is almost invisible against the background of sand. And this is good, because arthropods are not small. The length including the paws can be more than 13 centimeters. 4 pairs of long, strong limbs are great for moving across the sand and making quick leaps to catch prey.





During the hunt, the White Lady does not move away from home. Usually she just sits and waits until an insect or other arthropod appears nearby. While most spiders rely on catching nets, our heroine relied on her eyes. Excellent developed panoramic vision helps to detect prey, estimate its dimensions and choose the moment to attack. The victim can only escape by running - there is no hiding in the desert.



Females never leave their possessions, but males are prone to travel. A guy who has reached adulthood goes out every night in search of romantic adventures. Before leaving, he drums on the sand and listens for answers. All males within a radius of 50 meters tell you where romance should not be involved. And the females convey invitations. A traveler can visit up to 5 ladies per night.



The white gentleman's path is simple only on paper. The average lifespan of a female is six months, while half of the males die within a month after birth. The reason for this is the numerous dangers of the desert at night. Predators hunt and drive other males out of their territories. Even females can finish off a gentleman if he does not tap out the correct combination in the sand.



To increase its chances of success, the arthropod has to weave and avoid particularly dangerous places. During the night he can walk up to 800 meters! But here's what's interesting: the white gentleman always returns to his hole by the shortest route and makes a mistake by no more than a couple of meters. Its path-finding abilities are no worse than those of GPS navigators!



However, we still don't understand where this accuracy comes from. On the Internet they clearly write that the White Lady is an astronomy guru. Scientists also have this hypothesis: thanks to acute panoramic vision, a white gentleman, while traveling, tracks his position relative to the Moon and stars. Then he just needs to return to the original coordinates, and he will immediately be home. But there are at least two “buts”.



For example, researchers studied the structure of the eyes of other nocturnal spiders with acute vision. The mirrors of arthropods were sensitive to the light of the moon, as the largest source of light, but not the stars. This means that a white gentleman cannot navigate by constellations using this logic. Moreover, what to do when the sky is not visible at all? For example, in a sandstorm?



Option number two: the spider understands geometry at the level of a student at a specialized department. Then he counts his steps, remembers the direction of movement and calculates the shortest path to the starting point.



Previously, it was assumed that spiders could track their position using other external landmarks: odors, large dunes, and even changes in soil vibration. But in 2007, arachnologist Thomas Nærgaard proved that the quality of navigation does not depend on these factors.



Unfortunately, you can't just pick up a spider and interrogate it. He is silent, like a partisan. But sooner or later we will definitely understand what the White Lady is: a star expert or a mathematical genius!