Fluffball the Purring Menace of Severing, kitten, has been elected mayor!If that happened, I'd kill it as fast as possible. I couldn't keep up with all the yarn balls it would mandate.
Don't forget that chitin has the defensive properties of papier-mâché, so one good punch in the head from anything will probably kill it.If Chitin has the Properties of Papier-Mache, then bone just has the properties of paper.
That's too many spiders.
yeah giant jumping spiders don't jump, so they're not use for now.
That's too many spiders. Have you not seen Eight Legged Freaks? It can only end in tears.
Do you remember the bit where the trapdoor spiders emerged from the ground to begin nommin' people?
(A plot hole in the story being that those spiders also would've survived the explosion in the end... Have fun Aussies).
Now imagine those in a Dorf Fortress. Fighting for or against, either would work.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)Spoiler (click to show/hide)
I just tested a giant brown recluse against a Yeti. Guess who won with a single broken foot?
So it's really more of a Giant Wolf Spider. I think I'm ok with that. Although, a true giant jumping spider would be pretty cool. It could leap a few dozen tiles into the middle of an invading squad.
(A plot hole in the story being that those spiders also would've survived the explosion in the end... Have fun Aussies).
So it's really more of a Giant Wolf Spider. I think I'm ok with that. Although, a true giant jumping spider would be pretty cool. It could leap a few dozen tiles into the middle of an invading squad.
Jumping spiders (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumping_spider#Behavior) are a somewhat diverse group, and some of them do have venomous bites, but the jumping is probably what most people expect, just because of the name.
Some species will tether themselves to where they jump from when they make a jump, and can spring back to where they jumped off of their silk lifeline, in case they miss their target. They also love to jump down on prey from above, so it acts as a bungie cord safety line.
Diving down on dwarves from ledges in caverns would make for a rather neat surprise, especially if they could form some "ladders" of silk when they jumped.
Can they spot an maul kobold thieves to death?I had one set up like that. He could catch up to the kobolds, but more often than not they could dodge his attacks.
If they can catch them before they flee, keeping a few on guard duty near doors would be worth the lack of silk.
Paper mache' chitin only has to hold up against copper daggers, afterall.
Ground hunting spiders are an exception in the arthropoda family.
Many species are smart enough to navigate a maze, and even remember the maze.
A giant version could possibly be very intelligent indeed. Just slap the [canlearn] tag on. Already slapping [trainable], [pet], and [child], so in for a penny, in for a pound.
That is the cutest thing I have ever seen come from spider-kind.
Ground hunting spiders are an exception in the arthropoda family.
Many species are smart enough to navigate a maze, and even remember the maze.
A giant version could possibly be very intelligent indeed. Just slap the [canlearn] tag on. Already slapping [trainable], [pet], and [child], so in for a penny, in for a pound.
Jumping spiders have one of the highest encephalization quotients among invertebrates, comparable to octopi (although as a smaller animal overall jumping spiders are not as intelligent). They also likely have the highest brain-body mass ratio of all animals, as their brains occupy almost their entire cephalothorax. Moreover, in chelicerates a lot of the functions that are handled by the brain stem in vertebrates are handled by autonomous systems distributed through the body, leaving more of that brain mass available for other things (mostly dealing with the input from a visual system that gives them esssentially 360 degree vision. Although on our planet a giant spider could not exist for other reasons, a giant jumping spider could be a very smart critter indeed.
However one thing that is important to realize about spiders is that they spend most of their time inactive. Jumping spiders are active hunters and spend more time than other invertebrates moving around, but in general a lot of their time is spent in an extremely stimulus-deprived condition. As Charles Elton said, "All cold-blooded animals spend an unexpectedly large proportion of their time doing nothing at all, or at any rate, nothing in particular." As such, jumping spider intelligence is probably of a very different nature than that of a mammalian carnivore, as their intelligence must be employed in very brief, intense bursts rather than all the time.
I still don't know why most people are so afraid of our Arachnid Friends.
Although probably the only reason they don't activally try to kill US is because we're so much bigger.
I still don't know why most people are so afraid of our Arachnid Friends.
Although probably the only reason they don't activally try to kill US is because we're so much bigger.
Why are people scared of Australia?
Also paralysis ticks and irukandji (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irukandji_jellyfish).Why are people scared of Australia?
Because Clock Spider.
Clock Spider!
They also have the best eyesight of any invertebrateI rather doubt that (did you get that from wikipedia? If so, the exact quote is "some of the best").
Why are people scared of Australia?
Actually, I think the camel spider (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camel_spider) is pretty messed up. As in, they're cool and all, but if I saw one irl I'd mess myself. Although, since they're technically not spiders, spiders are still awesome.Yeah, camel spiders are more closely related to ants. Solitary, four-jawed, psycho ants.
What about mighty Amblypygi?
Mighty Amblypygi is far more fearsome than silly Camel Spider.
Gryllsie actually ate an amblypig on the show, and he enjoyed it.Daper spider is daper
And...
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/26/Jumping_Spider.jpg/200px-Jumping_Spider.jpg)
But tv shows that are meant to be informative, or are at least pretending to, are much more entertaining when they don't insult your intelligence.