# Cartwheeling spider! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 26, 2009, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartwheeling-spider/483045 "2009-01-26T12:24:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartwheeling-spider/483045/1 "2009-01-26T12:24:26Z")
So, this is possibly nothing for arachnophobes, but, to everyone not thus afflicted, I present [the rolling spider](http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/a-602160.html) – after a running start, it does cartwheels through the desert dunes as a means of locomotion. Be sure to check out the video! (Warning, contains spiders, and atrocious German accent.) ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartwheeling-spider/483045/2 "2009-01-26T15:13:28Z")
Wow, that is pretty cool! Now I am going to be imagining all animals cartwheeling as a form of locomotion. I am tickled at the thought of bears, giraffes, otters, and all other life forms cartwheeling around their habitats. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartwheeling-spider/483045/3 "2009-01-26T15:20:08Z")
> [@pbbth](#): > > Wow, that is pretty cool! Now I am going to be imagining all animals cartwheeling as a form of locomotion. I am tickled at the thought of bears, giraffes, otters, and all other life forms cartwheeling around their habitats. As am I, now you’ve mentioned it. Oh joyous glee! Stop that locomoting, you crazy hippo’s. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartwheeling-spider/483045/4 "2009-01-26T23:01:47Z")
So few large rocks in the desert… ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartwheeling-spider/483045/5 "2009-01-27T00:18:24Z")
[Beat ya!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=503333)😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartwheeling-spider/483045/6 "2009-01-27T00:40:26Z")
Is this a new discovery? I thought I’d seen this spider (or something very much like it) on one of Attenborough’s documentaries, quite some years ago - as well as seeing it referenced in threads about why animals don’t have wheels. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartwheeling-spider/483045/7 "2009-01-27T00:53:07Z")
> [@](#): > > One male specimen currently inhabits a jar of alcohol in the offices of spider expert Jäger. That’s how I want to go. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartwheeling-spider/483045/8 "2009-01-27T09:31:23Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > [Beat ya!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=503333)😃 Yeah, I was busy trying to show the spiders in my house how to cartwheel, so I didn’t get around to posting this thread earlier… > [@Mangetout](#): > > Is this a new discovery? I thought I’d seen this spider (or something very much like it) on one of Attenborough’s documentaries, quite some years ago - as well as seeing it referenced in threads about why animals don’t have wheels. I’ve seen (and the article, I think, also mentions it) spiders kind of rolling themselves into a wheel and tumbling down a dune, but never one that actively does cartwheels (or handsprings, as the case may be). [This](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4odlo0Afjs) is what I remember seeing before. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartwheeling-spider/483045/9 "2009-01-27T17:37:46Z")
That’s kinda cute! Aren’t male spiders usually smaller than females? ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartwheeling-spider/483045/10 "2009-01-27T17:53:15Z")
Very cool cartwheels…nothing like a happy spider to make my day! Speaking of 8 legged friends: I teach a speech class and have two quick stories…one student brought in her pet tarantula that she found in the desert near Las Vegas. She actually saw it climb in a hole, reached her hand in and pulled it out and took it home as a pet. Before I could say anything during her speech, she brought it out and set it on her shoulder and walked through the room. About half of my class freaked out and it was a great way to clear a room. (Had I known she was going to do that, I would never have allowed it but it was too late by then.) Another student told a story about her and her boyfriend buying a new house on the outskirts of Vegas…no homes for about a mile. Home alone, she saw something move quickly on the floor of her kitchen. Then again. She got a good look and freaked out. Calling her boyfriend, he and a friend came home and laughed, claiming she was exaggerating…then they found this [wind spider](http://www.faunaimportuk.com/caresheets/cswindspider.htm), aptly named as it goes as fast as the wind and has jaws that can chop heads off small critters and do serious damage to a finger. They eventually caught it, but quite a story. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartwheeling-spider/483045/11 "2009-01-27T18:52:01Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > Very cool cartwheels…nothing like a happy spider to make my day! > > Speaking of 8 legged friends: > > I teach a speech class and have two quick stories…one student brought in her pet tarantula that she found in the desert near Las Vegas. She actually saw it climb in a hole, reached her hand in and pulled it out and took it home as a pet. Before I could say anything during her speech, she brought it out and set it on her shoulder and walked through the room. About half of my class freaked out and it was a great way to clear a room. (Had I known she was going to do that, I would never have allowed it but it was too late by then.) > > Another student told a story about her and her boyfriend buying a new house on the outskirts of Vegas…no homes for about a mile. Home alone, she saw something move quickly on the floor of her kitchen. Then again. She got a good look and freaked out. Calling her boyfriend, he and a friend came home and laughed, claiming she was exaggerating…then they found this [wind spider](http://www.faunaimportuk.com/caresheets/cswindspider.htm), aptly named as it goes as fast as the wind and has jaws that can chop heads off small critters and do serious damage to a finger. They eventually caught it, but quite a story. That wind spider is _seriously_ ugly. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartwheeling-spider/483045/12 "2009-01-27T20:39:20Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > …then they found this [wind spider](http://www.faunaimportuk.com/caresheets/cswindspider.htm)… I saw in the linked commentary that the wind spider has “large, oversized jaws.” Right, as opposed to all those other spiders with _tiny_ oversized jaws. :smack: eeeuch. That thing looks like the world’s biggest termite. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartwheeling-spider/483045/13 "2009-01-27T20:53:09Z")
The wind spider is not a spider. It’s a solifugid. Nonpoisonous, but highly aggressive. They live in all deserts on earth. The largest ones are the now-infamous “camel spiders” of the Arabian Peninsula. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartwheeling-spider/483045/14 "2009-01-27T20:55:37Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > The wind spider is not a spider. It’s a solifugid. Nonpoisonous, but highly aggressive. They live in all deserts on earth. The largest ones are the now-infamous “camel spiders” of the Arabian Peninsula. I’m imagining right now just how horrifying it would be to be bitten by one. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cartwheeling-spider/483045/15 "2009-01-28T16:02:39Z")
No kidding. It’s gotta be one of the only lethal nonvenomous arachnids.