Each morning I went out to see what my "pet" spider had managed to secure during the night and wrap up for future meals. I got so interested in the spider and the curious pattern in the center of her web that I actually--this was before Internet--got into my car and drove to the Richardson library and checked out an actual book on spiders of Texas. There I learned the name of the spider: Argiope aurentia, also called the orb spinner and the writing spider.
These are called the writing spiders because they decorate the center of their webs with patterns, like the zig zag in the picture. No one knows for sure what the purpose of the decorations is. It was thought at first that they stabilized the web, hence the name stabilimenta (plural). However, that theory has not panned out. I like the fact that the purpose of the decoration is a mystery.
Possibly stabilimenta are messages. Did you read Charlotte's Web when you were little? Charlotte was a spider who saved the life of a pig named Wilbur by repeatedly writing messages in her web to the farmer who was about to slaughter the pig, messages like "Terrific pig!" The story was about empathy and friendship.
“Why did you do all this for me?” Wilbur asks Charlotte. “I don’t deserve it. I’ve never done anything for you.”“You have been my friend,” replied Charlotte. “That in itself is a tremendous thing. I wove my webs for you because I liked you. After all, what’s a life, anyway? We’re born, we live a little while, we die . . . By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a trifle. Heaven knows anyone’s life can stand a little of that.”Kids can learn a lot from good stories, reading them with parents if they are too young to do it on their own. This may not be the most unified blog post, but I think it fits well with the point of the other post I wrote this morning.
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