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Spider Prey Challenge
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Hunters & Trappers: Spiders prey mostly on insects and are important in controlling insect populations. A single spider may eat up to 2,000 insects a year! Spiders can be divided into two categories: trappers and hunters. Trappers use silk to literally catch or trap their prey. Some trappers spin webs. Others make silk-lined burrows. Still others use their silk to shoot down their prey! Hunters don't use silk to catch a meal. They go after their prey and attack.
Ready to take the challenge? What do spiders eat? Look closely at the pictures below and read how each spider hunts or traps its prey. Using the hints, choose the best prey organism from the list of spider foods. Download and print out this page, then write in your answer on the line provided.
View the correct answers here. |
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Crab Spiders
Hints: It's a master of disguise. Changes its color to match its flowery ambush site. Eats daytime nectar-seeking insects. When its prey lands on a flower, the spider attacks, injecting the insect with venom which paralyzes it.
A Crab Spider's prey is _____________________. |
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Hammock Spiders
Hints: A tiny spider, about the size of your pinkie fingernail that hangs upside down underneath its web. When a tiny insect gets trapped in its sticky web, the spider bites it through the web!
A Hammock Spider's prey is ___________________. |
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Trapdoor Spiders
Hints: Digs a silk-lined burrow in the ground with a hinged "trapdoor" at the top. Hides inside the burrow waiting for an insect to wander by.
A Trapdoor Spider's prey is _____________________. |
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Bola Spiders
Hints: A nighttime hunter, it throws a silk ball on a long threat at night-flying insects. After the sticky silk ball hits the winged insect, it hauls in its catch.
A Bola Spider's prey is _____________________. |
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Orb Weavers
Hints: Spends more than an hour building a large, round web high off the ground. Waits for a flying insect to buzz into its web. The sticky strings will trap it until the spider can kill and eat it.
An Orb Spider's prey is _________________________. |
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Garden Spiders
Hints: Weaves sticky round webs in high grass and low bushes to trap hopping insects. When the spider feels the web shaking, it knows it has its prey!
A Garden Spider's prey is _______________________________.
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