Can You Spot the Lie? Spiders – Nature for my Soul

As you likely know I recently published a post about unloved and unappreciated creatures like spiders, bees and caterpillars. Afterwards a man I know through my blog, named Murray, who lives in Canada, contacted me to share a poem he’d written some years ago about spiders. I loved it so much I want to share it with you. (Thanks Murray!)

As I told you in a previous post, the world has a lot of different kinds of spiders–more than 40,000 (this number seems to change all of the time! Last I checked it was 37,000!) named species though scientists estimate this may only be a quarter of all of those that actually exist. There are also A LOT of myths about spiders, from popular fiction, to movies, TV shows, articles, and everything in between. Sadly, all of this misinformation has led to lots of unwarranted fear and persecution.

First, just a few facts to get you on the right page.

Spiders have 8 legs, two body parts (cephalothorax and abdomen) and most spiders have 8 eyes. They also have chelicerae (jaws connected to the fangs,) pedipalps (a pair of sensory appendages) and venom to subdue their prey. They belong to the class Arachnida. Spiders are different from insects because insects have 3 body parts (head, thorax, and abdomen) and 6 legs. Spiders and insects belong to the same phylum–Arthropoda.

The arrangement of the eyes of spiders differs and scientists use the eye arrangement to help identify familes. Spiders are NOT easy to identify, despite popular belief otherwise. Most all of what I’ve learned about spiders comes from a guy by the name of Rod Crawford. He is the Curator of Arachnids at The Burke Museum at the University of Washington. He is someone who has dedicated his life to studying spiders so when he says something about spiders, I trust he’s telling the truth! Much of what I know about spiders has come from Rod Crawford.

Here’s Murray’s poem about spiders. Then we’ll see if you can Spot the Lie!

Mother Goose Revisited, by Murray Arthur Palmer

Little Miss Campbell
Went for a ramble
Over hill and dale one day.
Along came a spider,
Who sat down beside her,
And had these wise words to say:

“I presume you’re a human
Of impeccable groomin’,
And you accept the rules of fair play.
More than one pair of eyes
May come as a surprise,
But don’t let that cause you dismay.

When you look at my face,
You think there’s no trace
Of our common primordial past.
In your home or the wild,
We’re often feared or reviled,
But we’re all part of Nature’s cast.

We have formidable mugs
To kill all sorts of ‘bugs’,
And we bite with a venomous injection.
Our digestion evolved
To suck out innards dissolved;
There’s no need to bite off a section.”

Little Miss Campbell replied,
“That I can abide,
If you rid my fine home of pests.
Every moth, louse, and fly,
I’ll bid them all goodbye,
And welcome my arachnid guests.”

Now everything’s groovy
Despite that dumb movie;
Arachnophobia is fear exaggerated.
A poem by Mother Goose
Let Western folklore loose,
So spiders, like wolves, aren’t venerated.

Check out some spiders I’ve captured with my camera!