Scientists have explained the pretense of spiders during sex
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Female cannibal spiders have learned to pretend to be dead so as not to scare away the males they like
Scientists have found an explanation why female funnel-web spiders pretend to be dead before mating. It turned out that in this way they try not to scare away males – in spiders of this species, females usually devour partners after intercourse. This is reported by the scientific publication Current Zoology.
To find out the reason for the unusual behavior of females (pretending to be dead), researchers from China and Australia conducted a series of experiments – including artificially introducing females into a dying state, actively shaking before intercourse. Experiments have shown that females pretend to be dead on their own, without any influence of males.
In addition, the experimental phase of the study showed that female funnel-web spiders pretend to be dead only for the males they liked: on the contrary, the females drove away the other ones that did not cause attraction with active movements.
Funnel spiders are not the only cannibal spiders that have sex in this way. According to the publication, this behavior is also characteristic of araneomorphic spiders Entelegynae.
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