Spinning silk is not just for catching prey!

When you think of spiders spinning silk, you probably think of them doing so just to trap insects.  But actually, spiders use silk to make trapdoors, safety lines, and other protective devices.

Spider silk is produced in silk glands and squeezed out through spinnerets at the rear of a spider's body.  Some spider silk is stronger than steel of the same thickness!  Spiders can also recycle silk by eating old webs.

Spiders depend on silk even before they are born.  They hatch from eggs which a female has wrapped in a protective silken sac.  

After leaving the sac, some spiders will attach a silk safety line to an object nearby.  These kinds of spiders continually anchor safety lines while traveling.  If a spider slips, the silk stops its fall!

Web-spinning spiders depend on silk more for safety than for catching prey.  Also, these spiders will use their silk to interact with each other, for both courtship and mating purposes.  In fact, during courtship, males may bring a special gift for the female—flies wrapped in silk.  Yum!