All Spiders on Earth Could Hypothetically Eat Every Human on the Planet
A new study finds that spiders eat between 400 million and 800 million tons of prey per year
What is the one thing that is terrifyingly consistent with every single person’s life, and serves as a constant threat to us every single day?
Eight legs. Some big and fuzzy. Some small and colorful. Some of these creatures even have venom …
That’s right, the spider.
Think about it: Every single person who could ever possibly read this knows what a spider is, has seen one — and worse, has probably even touched one or two in their day.
And that’s no coincidence. It’s reality on Earth that 100% of our homes have spiders in them somewhere. That was certainly the case in a recent entomological survey done for North Carolina that revealed 68% of bathrooms had spiders and more than 75% of bedrooms did, too.
Look around right now, and you’ll probably see a spider in a dark corner of the room, thinking about how he can innocently plop into your hair and catch a ride to the other side of the room.
But those facts aren’t even the most terrifying, according to The Science of Nature. What’s most terrifying are the estimates suggesting that spiders globally kill between 400 and 800 million metric tons of prey per year.
That’s considerably more than the weight of every single human on earth combined (estimated at about 316 million tons). In theory, spiders could eat each and every one of us and they’d still have room to eat a bunch of our food as well.
All spiders are carnivores, which is what makes this report so intriguing. What are spiders eating since they’re not eating humans? Here’s a basic list of the 10 most commonly preyed-upon arthropod orders, or classes:
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Diptera (flies)
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Hemiptera (true bugs like cicadas and bed bugs)
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Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, ants)
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Collembola (springtails, hexapods)
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Coleoptera (beetles)
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Lepidoptera (butterflies, moths)
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Orthoptera (grasshoppers, crickets)
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Araneae (spiders)
Some spiders also feast on earthworms, slugs, snails, and small vertebrates, as well as supplementing their diets with plant materials.
While humans are not technically part of the food chain for spiders, the findings of this study still have the ability to send chills up your spine. If you have issues with spiders in your home, or simply want to know how to prevent a problem from starting, contact us to schedule your free home inspection.