Insects and Spiders and the like

[Rosewind]

Animals kill each other with no intent to consume all the time -- be it to protect their young, territory, breeding rights, etc.

Then there's the "Our dog tried to play with the pet hamster and it didn't work out well for the hamster" story I hear pretty often.

[DrMaxwell]

I've actually only heard of the domestic cat doing that... If you could cite examples of other species of cat that hunt for fun it would be appreciated.

My theory is this btw... Domesticated animals are likely to hunt and kill for fun because they don't need to hunt for survival. Same as humans. Wild animals hunt to survive. They can't just waste a kill.

I may be mistaken about the larger cats, but I do remember that dolphins hunt and kill other sea animals for no reason at all, and like male lions, will kill babies so they can mate with the mother.

[Star1228]

In the animal world, it seems that females tend to play more dominent roles than their male counterparts, and this goes doubley for bugs. In an ant colony, females are born much more adapt to do anything that needs doing while males are merley drones used for reproduction. For a lot of bugs, more often than not, the guys serve little more than sex slaves, often dying after that use as been sought, while the girls get to have all the glory. Don't you just love nature?

Probably because you need more females then males in an animal population to keep it from dwindling. my science teacher put it best: a women can mate only once or twice per year, while man can mate nearly unlimited amounts of times, so to keep the population up, there needs to be more females then males. and the majority seems to always have more power then the minority, for obvious reasons.

[starswirlthebearded]

"I've never heard of a predatory animal killing for fun" <-- My exact words.

Animals kill each other with no intent to consume all the time -- be it to protect their young, territory, breeding rights, etc.

Then there's the "Our dog tried to play with the pet hamster and it didn't work out well for the hamster" story I hear pretty often.

Yes, and that would fall under "survival" I never said they didn't kill for OTHER reasons. But I did say that animals do not kill for fun, as humans do. Humans go hunting for no other reason other than to have fun killing other creatures. Humans feel no territorial, kinship or breeding right threats when they go kill that elk in that enclosed hunting ground where the elk can be cornered and have no sporting chance to survive.

Also, humans wipe out entire species because they hunt for recreation and unnecessarily for food.

Also... Dog playing with hamster...? I already mentioned that domesticated animals tend to kill for fun because they don't have any of the concerns that their wild brethren have. But that doesn't even seem like its killing for fun on purpose. The dog isn't going out of its way to purposefully kill the hamster. Its probably not thinking "Oh man I'm going to kill this hamster and it is going to be AWESOME." It probably thinks its being playful.

I may be mistaken about the larger cats, but I do remember that dolphins hunt and kill other sea animals for no reason at all, and like male lions, will kill babies so they can mate with the mother.

Hm... so ONE out liner. "The only marine animal that kills for fun" So that is one creature out of how many? Again, what I said was quite exact, in that predatory animals do not kill for fun. Survival is another reason entirely. Whether it be for food, territory or other threat. (PS: Killing infants for the sake of mating, though not cool by any means, is still for survival. They want to kill competitive prides, while strengthening their own.)

One out liner does not invalidate my argument.

Edit: and usually when they are killing for mating or territorial, its usually of the same species. When I was talking about wasting a kill it was about interspecies killing. Though there are cases of interspecies killing for territorial rights.

[starswirlthebearded]

Double post. Sorry. Please delete.

[Parker_Izing]

About killing for fun, as a child I used to gun-down butterflies At the time I got this phobia to them, so I gone "Rambo" almost in a daily basis... even today I keep the pin-point accuracy, Somepony talked about "Fair game" standards, I had real fear for the things, so, fair game... (today, I doubt that monarch 70 yard away intended any harm...)

[SonicRainboomGirl]

The only insects I like are The Beatles

Additionally, behaviours have been proven in even PONIES that show an existential need to kill. There was this one incident where a pony baked her friend into a cupcake...JUST BECAUSE!

I know, right? Crazy stuff.

[Rosewind]

I wasn't disagreeing with you, Swirly. In fact, I agree with everything you've said. I think I was stating more observations about the different interactions that lead to animal mortality than the actual killing-for-fun topic/debate/whatever it is. Sorry if I wasn't very clear!

[starswirlthebearded]

I wasn't disagreeing with you, Swirly. In fact, I agree with everything you've said. I think I was stating more observations about the different interactions that lead to animal mortality than the actual killing-for-fun topic/debate/whatever it is. Sorry if I wasn't very clear!

Ah, my apologies then.

[Stonetribe]

Here's a bug highlight on the Black Widow Spider.

Black Widow spiders range in size from as little to half an inch to up the size of a paperclip. While they are most easily identified as black with a red hourglass symbol on their abdomen, they can also simply feature red spots or no markings at all. Black widows can be found on every continent on earth execpt Antartica. However they are ussually most common in warmer climates. Like most spiders, they commonly prey upon small insects that wonder into their web. This can include flys, moisquitos and grasshoppers. While the Black widow is notorous for haveing a deadly, poisoness bite, and is infact the most venomous spider in north america, they are seldom lethal, and only do so in self defense when they feel threatened. Cases of death are almost always exclusively present in infants and the elderly, who are natuarally more vurnalable to sickness and infection. To get more specific, there are only 8 confirmed deaths caused by black widow bites. Nethertheless, just as all with venomous creatures, care should be taken if you suspect to be biten. Wash thouroughly with soap and water to prevent infection. If more noteable symptoms develop such as muscle cramps, headache, or itching and rash, merely go to the nearest hospital, as this can be easily treated. On another note, Black Widow spider silk is among the strongest spider silk in the world. It is often compared to Kevlar, a synthetic fiber used in bulletproof vests. The tensile strength of spider silk is comparable to that of steel wire of the same thickness, but only after being properly spun I assume. Reaserch for industrial and millitary use as well ways to artificially produce the genes of the protein found in it have and been and are being conducted.

[Ancre]

Brr, spiders. I never liked them much, but I usually left them alone. I rarely chase them out of the house too, they can stay as long as they don't bother me too much, in which case, it's the window for you. Which might explain the amount of bug bites I sometimes get.

Are there species of spiders that will actually bite you in your sleep ?

Also, I have once found an awesome spider, who built massive spiderweb "nests" or "holes", that looked a bit like a carpet of spiderweb with a little hole inside it, where the spider was. It was impressive, huge, and all around much more cooler than the flimsy spider webs the other spiders did

Regarding the "civilizations comparison" subject, I don't really think we can talk about which one is better and all. We're just too different. We barely even share common goals and interests, beside perhaps basic survival and expansion at a specie-level (in which we're both very good). How would one be better than another ? I'm really curious to know what you think when you say that, Stonetribe.

[starswirlthebearded]

Brr, spiders. I never liked them much, but I usually left them alone. I rarely chase them out of the house too, they can stay as long as they don't bother me too much, in which case, it's the window for you. Which might explain the amount of bug bites I sometimes get.

Are there species of spiders that will actually bite you in your sleep ?

Also, I have once found an awesome spider, who built massive spiderweb "nests" or "holes", that looked a bit like a carpet of spiderweb with a little hole inside it, where the spider was. It was impressive, huge, and all around much more cooler than the flimsy spider webs the other spiders did

Regarding the "civilizations comparison" subject, I don't really think we can talk about which one is better and all. We're just too different. We barely even share common goals and interests, beside perhaps basic survival and expansion at a specie-level (in which we're both very good). How would one be better than another ? I'm really curious to know what you think when you say that, Stonetribe.

Yes, there are spiders who will bite you in your sleep. If they are near your bed and you nearly crush them, they'll likely bite you. Or if they some how find their way under your covers... same thing. Though you are not consciously threatening them, you are still threatening them,

As for survival? You realize that insect populations have survived far longer with much less genetic change than humans have right? They have been here far longer than we have, and will likely still be here long after we are all gone. Insects win hands down in survival. And they survive WITH us trying to kill them in mass. We commit insect genocide on a daily basis. Where as humans experience it only every few decades or so if that.

[Rosewind]

Black Widows build interesting webs -- in fact it's almost a good identifier of its presence.

I tend to get a lot of big spiders lurking around here, though I'm not sure what species they are. I call them spiderzillas. Next time one decides to pop out and say hello, I'll try to get a picture. Maybe our resident entomologist can try to ID it.

[DrMaxwell]

My house is like a spider haven. There's a cellar spider family living on top of my tv case, about 4 funnel weaver webs in the corners of my windows, and various other spiders roaming the house, except for the ones my cats eat. I let them be, simply because they eat everything else that comes into my home, such as flies, moths, mosquitos, and the occasional roach. The only spider I dont let stay in my house is the black widow, simply because Id rather not pay for a hospital visit, and I dont want to wake up to find my cat died. I've only found 4 or 5 black widows so far, but that may be because they cant find much food indoors, what with the competition.

[Stonetribe]

Regarding the "civilizations comparison" subject, I don't really think we can talk about which one is better and all. We're just too different. We barely even share common goals and interests, beside perhaps basic survival and expansion at a specie-level (in which we're both very good). How would one be better than another ? I'm really curious to know what you think when you say that, Stonetribe.

Yes, it is true that the fact that we're both entirely different species may be enough on its own to make any sort of accurate comparison. Even still, when I look at an ant colony (using argentines as an example again, if your not familler with them, check the first insect highlight of this thread) I see a sociaty better than our own in many aspects. The one thing that's different between us and ants is the level of intellegence. Some ants might be a bit smarter than others but they're all still almost entirely instinct driven. They are born willing to selflessly work, fight, and even die, and ask nothing but the nescesitys to survive in return. Humans have much more evolved minds. With this, comes human emotions and being more prone to free will. These two things have a large effect on human actions. If a group of humans are tasked with building a bridge, it wouldn't be uncommon for them to hesitate to do such lengthy and tiresome task. They might put in less effort during constructing, leading to the finished project being unstable or not as strong as it would should they gave it their all. They may also argue with one another over who does what, wasting time that could of been used building. One of them might even refuse to work at all. Ofcourse, not all humans are lazy and immature (sadly, this is very often the case). This is just one example of the millions of instances where humman nature gets in the way of a more important task on hand. That fact aside, ants never have and never will experience any of these distractions. If instructed to build a bridge, they will start as soon as possible. They will give the task 100% effort. They don't have to disscuss who does who, they just start working on the first part of building the bridge that isn't already occupied they find. If they can't find one, they will just help the nearest ant with what there doing. And ofcourse, an ant would never refuse to build bridges that need building, dig colonys that need diging, gather food that needs gathering, or fight threats that need fighting.

Huh, maybe I should start a seperate philosphy thread... What do you guys think?

[Rosewind]

Nah, I think there's plenty of room for philosophical insect behavior debate here. though I think you've made a well-enough comparison as it is.

By the way, can you tell me what kind of spider this is? It's been wandering around here lately.

[Ancre]

It's a saucy spider !

If you want to make a different philosophy subject, you can. I personally think that bringing it here will derail the thread. I am not sure I really want it to have a subject on its own anyways, because from what I've seen on the internet these kind of philosophy threads tend to get opinionated and passionate very quickly (and I can be guilty of it too !). But, hey, this is a pony forum, and I have been pleasantly surprised many times here before !

[WingsOfSapphire]

I'm deathly afraid of bugs, even though I really love them (Clashes, doesn't it?), so I turned on the shower one day, and this centipede came out of the drain. I didn't want to kill it...so I just took a shower in another room and came back after that to find and release it. Yeeah...

[Ancre]

Oh, and we have huge moths flying around here. Or "night butterflies" as french people call them.

I love moths. I don't know why - just like so many other bugs, they have some kind of fur on their bodies or something, and bulbous eyes, and other details that usually disgust me slightly, but moths are an exception.

I don't know a thing about them though. Wikipedia time !

[WingsOfSapphire]

Moths? Moths are cool. But they're really annoying when they get into your house...

[starswirlthebearded]

I don't mind moths so long as they stay the bloody hay away from my clothes. I do not like to wake up to find my clothes have holes in them! The only holes that are acceptable in my clothes are caused by acid!

[CrescentBlaze]

Nah, I think there's plenty of room for philosophical insect behavior debate here. though I think you've made a well-enough comparison as it is.

By the way, can you tell me what kind of spider this is? It's been wandering around here lately.

Oh my goodness Rosie Im dying . I have to tell him you did that he'll die laughing. He's my best friend IRL so there's an obligation here.

[Parker_Izing]

I don't mind moths so long as they stay the bloody hay away from my clothes. I do not like to wake up to find my clothes have holes in them! The only holes that are acceptable in my clothes are caused by acid!

Are certain moth larva /larvii/larvae Buck it, who chomp down on whool not grown up animals, (yep, used to snip moths too)

[SaucySpider]

Nah, I think there's plenty of room for philosophical insect behavior debate here. though I think you've made a well-enough comparison as it is.

By the way, can you tell me what kind of spider this is? It's been wandering around here lately.

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I LOL'D!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yup, your friendly neighborhood SaucySpider is here

[Rosewind]

You're the only spider I love, Saucy.