A Spider's Sense of Touch

If you were a spider, you would have a very good sense of touch, but you wouldn't be able to see much more than light, dark, and basic shapes. Spiders learn more about the world around them by feeling vibrations than they learn from using their eyes. They can tell what is happening around them by feeling the differences between different vibrations.

For example, wind and trapped insects can both make the spider's web move, but the spider can tell the difference between the jerky, uneven vibrations caused by the insect and the gentle, smooth vibrations caused by the wind. When trying to mate with a female, many male spiders will cause the female's web to vibrate in a special way that tells her that he is another spider, and not an insect to be eaten.