Ruud Kleinpaste: Cirque du Soleil spiders

I was excited to go to my favourite circus: Cirque du Soleil; they’re back in town!!

Great costumes – lots of art – and creative music. 

Most of all: fabulous performers that can do incredible things with their bodies; this, by the way, is something that makes my old body ache, just looking at it! 

Safety has to be an enormously important part of the show, yet you rarely see obvious signs of safety lines and nets, really… 

Fast-Forward to some of our jumping spiders; their Family name is “Salticidae” from Latin “Saltare”, meaning: to jump 

Some of our species are absolute masters at it – they come inside the house, look around for potential prey and then the stalking starts. 

Jumping spiders have great eye-sight – total of eight eyes, two are large front eyes for perfect stereo vision…  

The following “jump” is also extremely fast and accurate, but what most people don’t see is that during this jump the spider reels off silk from a gland in the abdomen. (at lightning speed!) 

This silk line is the spider’s safety line, in case it misses the target or falls of the window sill, table or other precarious edge where the jump takes place. 

Looking at these spiders you’ll see an entomological version of Cirque du Soleil with “web-sites” and bungy cords, safety lines and safety nets, daring jumps and lightning fast reflexes, all made from Natural fibres that are strong and efficient and - most of all – Biodegradable! 

Not surprised then that some scientists think they have observed jumping spiders going into REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleeps… 

No doubt dreaming about their miniaturecircus acts.

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