Should we learn to love them? Many feel frightened by these creepy-crawlies, but spiders are some of the most wondrous creatures in the natural world.
The amazing secrets of spiders
Much maligned: Everyone knows that spiders make silk and have venom, but few realise that they also fly, play songs, walk on water, solve puzzles and live just about everywhere on the planet, from underwater to the tallest mountain peaks. Glossary
Pathological - Involving or caused by a physical or mental illness.
Excrete - To discharge waste matter from a living body.
Kevlar - An extremely strong synthetic fibre.
Venom - A poisonous substance secret by such animals as snakes, spiders and scorpians.
Antidotes - A cure for something. It originally meant a medicine against poison.
Cognition - The mental processes involved in gaining knowledge and understanding.