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Photograph by Mike Hall, My Shot
Spider webs are threads of silk. Spiders can make as many as seven different kinds of silk, with all different purposes—from making egg cases, to hiding. They are mainly used to catch prey.
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Photograph by Minden Pictures, Masterfile
The silk is made inside the glands of a spider’s abdomen, where it is liquid. When it’s drawn out of their spinnerets, it becomes thread-like.
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Photograph by Outdoor-Archiv, Alamy
Spider silk is very strong—sturdier than a thread of steel that is as equally thick.
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Photograph by Joe Vogan, Alamy
Webs are spun by female and immature spiders.
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Photograph by Jeremy Woodhouse, Masterfile
Argiope spiders form orb webs made of ultraviolet silk. Some flowers (their food source) are also ultraviolet, confusing insects, which believe they’re about to eat nectar. Instead, they end up getting stuck in a web.
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Photograph by Andre Joubert, Alamy
The slightest vibration of a web alerts a spider to the possibility of prey, which then rushes toward the movement.
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Photograph by Joel Sartore
Spiders can spin webs almost anywhere. Here a small spider web spans a square of a chain link fence.
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Photography by Minden Pictures/Masterfile
A spider waits in its tunnel-shaped web.
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