Dance - sexy way of jumping spider

The jumping spiders demanded that their partner dance and sing before "giving the body" to him.

The spider raised his feet in the inviting dance.If you fix your belly with your head, they can't "sing".Photo: Discovery)

It is known that birds are singing and bees are dancing, but the addition of spiders to the flirtatious story in the animal world is quite new. It shows that spiders have much more complex communication behaviors than previously thought.

Researcher Damian Elias, who specializes in neurobiology and behavior at Cornell University in the US, observed the jumping spider Habronattus dossenus and recorded the behavior of attracting their mates.

This spider "sings" by creating different vibrations from its belly. Elias prevented some spiders from singing by fixing their abdomen with their heads with beeswax.

He found that male spiders who just sing and dance will be more successful in attracting females. And the guys who just dance without singing are less noticed. This shows that the sensory perception of singing, along with the testimony of jumping behavior in children, are all important factors in the mating activity of jumping spiders.

Elias explained that spiders do not have ears, but instead have tiny organs on their feet that sense vibrations.

"The same thing that happens to us when listening to loud music has heavy bass. Instead of hearing with the ears, we feel that bass through our bodies," Elias said.

He said that even humans can hear the singing of spiders in certain cases, such as when they sing on a l

Jumping spider Habronattus dossenus
(Photo: Discovery)

Asia and vibration create a high-pitched sound.

According to Elias, male spider songs and songs are very different, but always include 3 components - rustling, thumping and whirling.

"What's interesting about their song is that the three components come together to create a melody, where the song starts with a series of rustling sounds, breaking with a few simple beats, then slowly growing. gradually up with a series of thuds and voices, the whole song lasts from 1 minute to 20 minutes ".

Because the spider preyed by stalking and jumping up, like the cat's mouse, Elias surmised that the impressive dance was a way for males to tell their children that they were skillful predators, had Very good fitness. On the contrary, the children look at dancers who don't know how to sing.

The diversity of these vibratory songs seems unique in the Habronattus jumping spider. The specific species that Elias studied is still not the best. For example, Habronattus coecatus male spiders also know at least 10 different dance songs for their performance, lasting for 45 minutes .

Steven Heydon, a scientist at the Bohart School of Insects at the University of California, was not surprised by the results. "You need to imagine yourself living in the three-dimensional space of the spider. A female spider under the leaf will not be able to recognize the male above the leaf. There should be a signal for him to contact her. in 3-dimensional space ".

Heydon also explained: "Many predatory insects don't have a lot of brains, so males or females have to do something to prevent their partners from eating themselves. Some spiders give food as gifts, but In this case, a dance song will be useful. "