BROADCASTS.com

b'As we get closer and closer to Halloween, the monsters get scarier and scarier! Okay, spiders are not technically monsters, but some people think they are. Don\\u2019t worry, I keep descriptions to a minimum so arachnophobes should be okay! This week we learn about some spider friends and some spider mysteries.\\n\\n\\n\\nI stole the above cartoon from here. I am sorry, Science World.\\n\\nA cape made from golden silk orbweaver silk:\\n\\n\\n\\nFurther reading and listening:\\n\\nBlue spiders\\n\\nVarmints! Podcast scorpions episode\\n\\nShow transcript:\\n\\nWelcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I\\u2019m your host, Kate Shaw.\\n\\nIt\\u2019s almost Halloween! I\\u2019m on the third bag of gummi spiders, although they\\u2019ve changed the flavor from last year so I only eat the orange and yellow ones. The purple and green ones are in the bucket to give out to unsuspecting children.\\n\\nSpeaking of spiders\\u2026yes, I\\u2019m going there. I realize a lot of people are scared of spiders, but they\\u2019re beautiful, fascinating animals that are associated with Halloween. Don\\u2019t worry, I will try hard not to say anything that will set off anyone\\u2019s arachnophobia. Besides, there are some mysterious spiders out there that I think you\\u2019ll find really interesting.\\n\\nFirst off, you don\\u2019t have to worry about gigantic spiders like in the movies. Spiders have an exoskeleton like other arthropods, and if a spider got too big, some researchers think its exoskeleton would weigh so much the spider wouldn\\u2019t be able to move. Not only that, spiders have a respiratory system that isn\\u2019t nearly as efficient as that of most vertebrates, so giant spiders couldn\\u2019t exist because they wouldn\\u2019t be able to get enough oxygen to function.\\n\\nSpecifically, some spiders have a tracheal system of breathing, like most insects and other arthropods also have. These are breathing tubes that allow air to pass through the exoskeleton and into the body, but it\\u2019s a passive process and spiders don\\u2019t actually breathe in and out. Other spiders have what are called book lungs. The book lung is made up of a stack of soft plates sort of like the pages of a book. Oxygen passes through the plates and is absorbed into the blood, which by the way is pale blue. This is also a passive process.\\n\\nIn other words, that picture that\\u2019s forever popping up on facebook of the enormous spider on the side of someone\\u2019s house, it\\u2019s photoshopped. In fact, pretty much any photo you see of a gigantic spider or insect or other arthropod is either photoshopped or made to look bigger by forced perspective. Also, spiders with wings are photoshopped, because no spider has ever had wings, even fossil spiders all the way back to the dawn of spider history, over 300 million years ago. So that\\u2019s one less thing to worry about.\\n\\nSpiders live all over the world, everywhere except in the ocean and in Antarctica. The smallest spider known is .37 mm, so basically microscopic. It lives in Colombia and basically lives out its whole life not knowing most things about the world, like what whales are and how to operate a smart phone. On the other hand, the largest spider in the world is a tarantula called the goliath birdeater, and it probably also doesn\\u2019t know what whales are and how to use a smartphone. The goliath birdeater is the heaviest spider at a bit over 6 ounces, or 175 g, and has a legspan of 11inches, or 28 cm. Despite its name, it mostly eats insects but it will occasionally eat frogs, small rodents, small snakes, and worms. It lives in swampy areas in the rainforests of northeastern South America.\\n\\nThe spider with the biggest legspan\\u2014yes, I know, some of you are freaking out but I can\\u2019t do an episode about spiders and not talk about the biggest spiders. The spider with the biggest legspan is the giant huntsman, which lives around cave entrances in Laos, a country in southeast Asia. And it\\u2019s not much bigger than the goliath birdeater, with a legspan of one foot, or 30 cm.\\n\\nAll spiders produce silk but not all of them make webs.'