Came home, one of those orange spiders is weaving a web.
He was actually white with patterns, but they get
orange later, in october, when they make great *actual* halloween spiders,
I recall. I think he's a he because he had big "fangs" actually pedipalps (?)
to hand a package over to females. Anyway I saw him just as he finished the
radials, probably woven with strong fiber, and was beginning the probably sticky
spiral. From outside to inside, counter clockwise viewed from above the spider.
Probably a radial every 10 degrees. The spiral ranged from maybe 10mm on the outside to
much finer, and very regular, 2mm inside. Then he stopped.
How the hell does a spider with a tiny brain do this? In random environments, with random wind disturbing him?
Front legs seemed to move fasters, likely sensing, and his back legs and butt laid down the new fiber. What was he sensing? What are the rules? How do you encode these in a spider brain? How do you encode that in a spider genome?
I've written and run simulations of ant behavior. But how does a spider work?
