Real Spider Superpowers

Real Spider Superpowers
Reported by Cameron Walker and written by Sarah Ives
National Geographic Kids News
July 06, 2004
Spider-Man has returned to movie theaters this summer to fight villains with his many superpowers—but real spiders have some tricks of their own.
Real spiders may not be able to fight Doc Ock, the criminal in Super-Man 2, but some spiders can jump as much as 50 times their body length.
U.S. long jumper Mike Powell holds the world's record with a jump of 29 feet, 4.5 inches (8.95 meters). Powell is 6 feet, 2 inches (1.9 meters) tall. If he had a spider's jumping ability, he might be able to leap 300 feet (90 meters). That would definitely bring him the gold medal in this summer's Olympics!
Spiders jump to catch insects. "They hunt down prey, and then they'll pounce on it," said Andrew Martin, from the University of Applied Sciences in Germany.
But that's not all spiders can do. In the movies, Spider-Man walks up buildings. Some real spiders can also walk upside down on smooth surfaces.
Some spiders' feet are covered with tiny hairs. These hairs give spiders the strength to hold 170 times their body weight before coming unstuck. That would be the same as Spider-Man carrying 170 people from danger while clinging to a building with his fingers and toes, Martin said.
Scientists hope that they can use the secret of spiders' stickiness to make better sticky notes, gloves for soccer goalies, and even boots for astronauts.
Spiders can also spin as many as seven different kinds of silk. Some of the silk is so strong that it rivals the strength of steel! With skills like that, spiders could give Superman, the Man of Steel, a run for his money!
Spiders use the silk for many different purposes, like catching insects in webs, traveling from place to place, parachuting, forming egg sacs, and wrapping up prey.
According to Todd Blackledge of the University of California, Riverside, the first Spider-Man movie had some realistic webs. "They had such a great variety of webs," he said. "Somebody had really done their homework."
Spider Facts
• There are more than 37,000 described spider species in the world, but only about 25 are thought to have venom that can affect people.
• The largest known spider is the Goliath birdeater tarantula. This South American spider can be as big as a dinner plate. The spider has even snatched birds from their nests!
• The smallest known spider is the mygalomorph (MIG-uh-low-morf) spider from Borneo. Its body is the size of a pinhead.
• Most spiders have eight eyes. But some don't have any eyes, and others can have as many as 12.
• A spider eats about 2,000 insects a year.
• Some people eat spiders. In the South Pacific, some people say spiders taste nutty and sticky like peanut butter.
Questions for Discussion: