Amazing World of Spiders

by Janet Craig

Discusses the characteristics and behavior of different kinds of spiders

Genres: Science, Animals

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[Melinda Christensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This little book has an amazing amount of information about spiders. I enjoyed reading it. Were you aware that there are almost 30,000 kinds of spiders? They range in size from a speck of dust to as big as a person's hand. Spiders are part of a group called arachnids, which have eight legs, whereas insects have six. Spiders have two body parts; insects three. In spite of the fact that spiders have eight eyes, they can't see well. They spin webs from spinnerets, and these lines of spider silk are stronger than steel wire of the same size! A second group of spiders, called hunters, run after their prey. This group includes Tarantulas, which can live more than twenty years. Most spiders live for one year. Beware of the black widow which is poisonous; it is a shiny black spider with a red or yellow mark on its underside. Most spiders are harmless to humans, and helpful, because they eat many harmful insects.