Geneva / Georgia: Is it possible for a spider to prey on a snake larger than its size and eat it? Modern scientific research has answered "yes" to this question.
In an interesting study published in the Journal of Anthropology, experts from the United States and Switzerland described 319 cases of snake hunting by spiders, found in a nearly 300-year record.
Of these, 297 occurred in the wild, while only 22 occurred in zoos or laboratories.
Incidents of spiders attacking and consuming snakes have been reported on all continents except the South Pole (Antarctica), with the highest rates in the United States and Australia at 51% and 29% respectively.
In fact, it is known that most of the snake biting spider species were medium or small in size with an average length of 27 cm. However, they also included snakes up to 100 centimeters (one meter).
They make up more than 90 species of snakes belonging to seven families.
Instead, 40 species of snake-hunter spiders belonging to 11 families have been observed.
In addition, spiders belonging to the "Theridiis" family were found to be responsible for 60% of snake hunting cases.
Although ranging in size from 0.6cm to 1.1cm, these spiders form strong, tangled webs that feed on and invite snakes.
In addition, seven species of spiders anesthetize snakes with a particular type of nerve poison and eat them in pieces.
However, in all of these cases, several spiders work together to clean a snake.
The study found that although the incidence of spider-borne snakes is very low, their numbers are so large that they cannot be ignored.
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