Arachnophobia

Tetragnatha - long jawed spider.

Deb (Dbifulco) said something that interested me a while back, "You are slowly converting me to a spider-tolerator". This is the power of knowledge, the understanding of why things are the way they are and what to expect.

Whether we admit it or not, we all have a touch of arachnophobia. The fear of spiders, snakes, any bugs with yellow or red stripes, evolution has hard wired this information into our brains as a survival strategy, dating back to the days when we were swinging in the trees. Those that don't fear snakes - die - that is how evolution works. It doesn't take much research to find a list of famous herpetologists, but the list of herpetologist bus pass holders is a little shorter.

For some, this irrational fear of spiders is so strong, that it ruins their lives. I lived with a serious arachnophobe for two years, so indirectly I am speaking from experience. This powerful, extrovert of a woman would wilt into a whimpering ball when she spotted the tiniest of spiders. She would be fine after I removed the beasty, but she could not go near the spot were the spider was seen for many days.

For those that wish to overcome their irrational fear, information is a powerful antidote, at least as a first step. One or two of you sufferers might take umbrage at me calling your fear irrational. I could write a couple of paragraphs here on recorded statistics for comparison, but I am sure I don't need to do that, common sense lets us know what is dangerous and what is not - usually!

So, what is it about spiders that triggers this loathing. It is not the eyes, as with most spiders, the eyes are way too small to see and the spiders with big eyes are very small to begin with. It could be the general shape, but even this varies enormously from species to species and not that different to many other bugs. Long legs, well lots of insects have long legs. Color, no, in fact how do you even know it is a spider!

The answer is of course - when it moves!

It's that thin, spindly leg movement that seems to glide so smoothly. Even when they move quickly, they seem to float along with their high-stepping gait. It is the leg movement that triggers that primeval reaction, but what causes that leg movement?

Insects like mammals, including ourselves, have two sets of muscles, one to extend and another to retract our limbs. Spiders on the other hand, only have one set of muscles, used to retract the legs, the extension is done by hydraulics! To extend its leg, a small valve is opened and fluid pumped into the leg which forces the leg out, a bit like blowing up one of those long balloons.

This slow, smooth hydraulic extension followed by the stamping of the muscle retraction is what gives the arachnid its unique gait. It doesn't make them any more of a threat than any other bug, but it does make them visibly different and has given our brains something to recognize and associate with danger.

Whether this information will help you or not, I don't know, but it is something to think about next time you have a confrontation, to help you to rationalize the irrational.

Dave