discussion Male spiders catapult themselves after mating to avoid being eaten

[Genius1111]

 

 

Quote

Of 155 successful matings, they found 152 ended with the male catapulting and thus surviving the encounter.

 

Males can mate up to six times with the same female -- bouncing off, climbing back up using a silk safety line, mating, and bouncing off again.

The three males that didn't catapult were promptly captured, killed and consumed by their partners.

 

Another 30 males that were prevented from catapulting by placing a fine brush behind their dorsum all met the same fate -- leading the researchers to conclude catapulting is essential to avoiding sexual cannabalism.

 

The escaping spiders clocked some impressive statistics: their average peak speed was 65 centimeters per second, with an acceleration of 200 meters per second squared. That's equivalent to 20 Gs, or 20 times the acceleration felt during freefall.

 

Zhang said he believes the females were judging males' sexual suitability by their ability to escape.

 

"Through the catapulting, a male can escape female sexual cannibalism, and a female can choose males with high quality, because the kinetic performance may directly correlate with male's physical condition," he said.

 

Even though they have already mated, females may go on to only accept the sperm of males that passed the test, explained Zhang.

 

Spiders differ from mammals in that females have a structure known as spermatheca where deposited sperm is stored. She can decide whether to use it to fertilize her eggs, or reject it by squeezing it out or changing the pH value to kill the sperm.

 

[Zaram]

sex life is hard and dangerous

[smartalek22]

their Death by Sex era 

[smartalek22]

I wonder if gay spiders exist 

[Coma Baby]

Kings dumping them quicker than JT breakup text dumped Britney on the set of Overprotected.

 

Female spiders having a cum storage.

[anastasha]

Cowards.

[favorite crime]

18 minutes ago, smartalek22 said:

I wonder if gay spiders exist 

Not completely gay but many insects don't take time to inspect their partner's gender which leads to accidental gay sex

[arceus]

me after cumming inside bottoms so they don't catch feelings 

[Totami Legend]

feminism alive and well

 

2 hours ago, smartalek22 said:

their Death by Sex era 

[Apolonio]

This is so interesting.

[Cloudy]

Poor them 

[infrared]

3 hours ago, Genius1111 said:

Spiders differ from mammals in that females have a structure known as spermatheca where deposited sperm is stored. She can decide whether to use it to fertilize her eggs, or reject it by squeezing it out or changing the pH value to kill the sperm.

So much going on here 

[Dula Peep]

1 hour ago, infrared said:

Spiders differ from mammals in that females have a structure known as spermatheca where deposited sperm is stored. She can decide whether to use it to fertilize her eggs, or reject it by squeezing it out or changing the pH value to kill the sperm.

If only we could do this 

[UnusualBoy]

Clever since most of the males spiders ended up eaten by the female.

[Jude]

Spiders are the weirdest creatures.