I currently am cultivating a relationship with a European garden spider.
I notice that when she captures a wasp in her web, she seems to wrap the head end of the wasp and actively avoids the pointy end. Other critters tend to get wrapped completely up indiscriminately.
Am I imagining this, or is there some previous research that shows what I think is happening is real?
I don’t think this is learned behavior, it seems innate…if its real and not my imagination.
These are not orb web spiders, they’re active hunting spiders, but you might read up on jumping spiders, especially the Portia genus (but all jumpers as well). They are among the most intelligent spiders and have adaptive hunting strategies that can involve strategies to avoid the stingers of dangerous prey. I would not be surprised if orb spiders have similar strategies.
Here’s a paper (PDF) (main page) that looks like they try to avoid dangerous prey.
Other papers suggest that their webs are usually structured to target specific prey, not that by-catch can’t occur.
Some orb weavers decorate their webs, apparently to camouflage themselves from predators, including wasps.
I would imagine it would be hard for it to be learnt. An encounter with the pointy end tends not to be a repeatable experience.
Lots of critters seem to have some very specialised innate behaviours. It isn’t too hard to imagine natural selection leading to this one.
Wasps versus spiders always seemed to be part of the inspiration of the Alien movies. That and Dark Star.
Here’s one I saw decorate its web with fly wings.
As a kid I used to feed the orb weavers in the large houseplants by throwing houseflies into their webs. They would scurry to the prey pronto and wrap it in seconds, head to butt. It would’ve been really interesting to see how they would’ve dealt with a wasp.
