If you have a pet spider, you might wonder if it has feelings like humans and other animals. The truth is that spiders are not capable of having intelligent feelings like humans. It is because they do not have a developed nervous system like humans. But, spiders are capable of feeling emotions or feelings according to their capabilities. Hence, the chances are high that your pet spider loves you a lot!
Do spiders have feelings? Yes. A spider exhibits feelings according to its lifestyle. The female spiders are also able to express motherly love to some extent. Even though they do not express complex emotions, they are wonderful creations of Mother Nature.
Spiders have their own intelligence.
Spiders have evolved a lot with time. The constant evolution has made spiders intelligent and alert. Hence, modern spiders can have complex things as well. Despite this, spiders have basic emotions and high intelligence to ensure they are safe and get prey regularly to lead a healthy life.
The lifestyle of a spider also has a lot of contribution in their development of feelings and exhibition of feelings. Spiders are solitary creatures and usually do not interact with other spiders socially like bees or ants. Hence, they often do not exhibit social behavior.
Examples of the feelings of a spider
A spider has basic feelings like being alert during threats or retreat according to the situation, catches its prey, etc. If you drop any heavy object near your spider cage, it will run and try to find a secure place.
On the other hand, even if your spider is resting, it will become alert when prey approaches it. The spider will not delay any second to hunt down the prey and munch on it. A weaver spider always keeps its wave to catch the prey. Trapdoor spiders are quite intelligent and use trapdoor-like traps on the ground to catch any prey. The anteater spiders can perfectly mimic the ants for hunting down their prey.
More complex feelings in spiders
This does not mean that a spider does not show emotional feelings. A mother spider will protect its eggs with its life. For example, a wolf spider, which carries the egg sack on their backs, protects the sacks. Spiders usually use their web and silks to protect the eggs from threats. Spiders will detect the defects in their egg sack and repair them.
Wolf spiders have shown genuine motherly love and feelings towards their children. They help their babies to eat, hunt their prey and drink water.
Some other spiders allow their children to feast on themselves if the food source depletes. Scientists are still finding the exact reason why a mother spider performs such extreme measures to keep her babies alive!
Spiders that are raised as pets also show emotional feelings to some extent. They allow their owners to touch them and feed them and also allow them to play with them. With time, a spider can become more attached to its owner.
