Many people have a fear of spiders. Arachnophobia, or an intense fear of spiders, affects 3.5-6.1% of the global population!
At the low estimate that means over 268 million people have an intense fear of spiders. The rest of us may not have arachnophobia, but many people are generally creeped out by spiders.
Despite their creepy presentation, spiders are actually amazing for both humans and the environment.
In today's post, we're going to go over the shocking reasons why spiders are actually amazing.
Watch the shocking, fascinating video version of this post complete with spider fight footage HERE.
You can also download the spider-free audio-only podcast by clicking the podcast download button above!
Spiders and The Hunt
Spiders hunt pests such as mosquitoes and cockroaches, which creates a direct benefit to us humans because then we have less pests to deal with!
Of course you’d ideally have neither spiders nor mosquitoes inside of your home, but if you had to choose between the 2, it could be arguable that the spider would be better, because at least the spider is likely to leave you alone.
Many of the creatures that spiders hunt are significantly worse pests than spiders in that they bite us humans, spread disease, or cause damage to our homes.
Spiders on the other hand do not typically attack humans, and it’s very rare to die from a spider.
Deaths from Mosquitoes
According to the World Health Organization, mosquito bites kill at least 1 million people per year. The majority of these deaths is due to malaria being transmitted to the victim, but also includes other diseases and complications as a result of mosquito bites.
The World Health Organization estimates that a child dies every 30 seconds due to malaria caused by mosquito bites. An estimated 300 to 500 million cases of malaria occur each year.
Of course not every case is deadly, but it can still cause other complications such as the individual not being able to work for a period of time.
While this isn’t as much of a problem in the USA, Canada, and Europe, in Sub-Saharan Africa this is a serious issue preventing them from expanding and living abundantly.
Even in colder climates found in America, mosquitoes can still transmit deadly disease and non-deadly disease which just gets you sick!
That’s where spiders come into play…
A Spiders Diet
What do spiders eat? Annoying bugs, such as mosquitoes!
Every year spiders eat an estimated 400 to 800 million tons of insects and other pests alone.
We humans eat about 400 million tons of meat & fish every year, to put that in comparison.
Spiders play a very important role in keeping pest populations down. Without spiders we might have to deal with large, dangerous swarms of insects.
Spiders eat more insects per year than the total weight of all humans on Earth combined!
The Impact of Spiders
Let’s really put this in perspective. One mosquito weighs an average of 2.5 milligrams to 5 milligrams.
400-800 tons is equivalent to 362,874-725,748 kilograms. When we take the low estimation of tons of insects eaten divided by the high weight estimation of mosquitoes, and the high estimation of tons of insects eaten divided by the low weight estimation of mosquitoes, we get a total estimated range of mosquitoes that are eaten every single year by spiders.
Spiders eat an average 72.5 BILLION to 290.3 BILLION insects every single year!
Now this IS an extremely wide range based on approximations, but still this is quite the shocking fact! Even at the low range of 72.5 billion mosquitoes hunted by spiders, this means that spiders are doing their due diligence when it comes to keeping mosquitoes & other pest populations in check.
Imagine for a moment that all spiders disappeared from Earth for one year. This would mean that by the end of the year we’d have an extra 72.5-290.3 billion other insects & mosquitoes, and even if spiders “re-spawned” at the end of this year they would struggle quite a lot with keeping them in check because there would be too many (and they would be having more babies also!).
Not only would the spread of deadly disease sky-rocket, but so many other problems would be caused such as pest infestation in homes, contamination of food & water, and manufacturing problems as insects take over.
The results would be a huge disaster rand billions of dollars in damages. It would take years (or even decades) for the problem to be fixed!
Spiders Don’t Attack Humans… Normally
To make matters even better, spiders rarely attack humans. When they do bite humans, it’s typically defensively, such as if a human was attacking the spider or accidentally sat on it.
The spider hanging out in the corner of your basement would not want to crawl up into your bed, knowing very well that it’s your space.
Spiders are acutely aware of their place as we humans could crush their entire bodies within a fraction of a second if we wanted to.
Lucky for us, spiders don’t often bite humans, and when they do, it’s defensive. Even better is that spiders - unlike mosquitoes - don’t eat our blood, or have desire to. This means that the probability of a spider spreading disease to you is very low, especially when compared to mosquitoes.
They’re Great for the Garden
Spiders are also excellent for garden health! Spiders hunt insects that would otherwise be eating up your vegetables and damaging the garden.
Stay Pest Free
As awesome as spiders are for us humans, they still shouldn’t be hanging around inside your home. We’d rather you not have any pests or wildlife inside of your home causing damage or putting you and your family at risk.
If you think that you have a wildlife or pest related problem, let the experts handle it.
We specialize in safe and responsible removal of wildlife and pests. Whenever possible we return the creatures to the wild where they belong.
If you think you have a wildlife or pest infestation problem, please call us at 855-WILDLIFE or visit www.wildlifexteam.com for more information.
Thanks!
-Wildlife x Team International