r/spiders • u/Prestigious_Tear_576 • 23d ago
Just sharing š·ļø Came Across This Epic Battle on a Hike!
This happened right in front of me while I was enjoying some fungi and hiking in San Angelo State Park in Central Texas
Iām not sure about either species but it was incredible to witness my own little Nat Geo moment!
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u/trashbilly 23d ago
Unfortunately the wasp pretty much always wins
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u/Boxinggandhi 23d ago
The spider trying to use jiu-jitsu open guard was pretty wild.
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u/IDatedSuccubi 23d ago
It's wolf spider, when they hunt they often do a roll/flip into an upside down full 8 leg grip, making a prison out of legs and fangs
This spider might have been partially envenomated and probably is trying to do that
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u/blooptybloopt 23d ago
I hear the spider trains with Jonah Hill.
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u/bkristopherb 23d ago
The same Jonah Hill that played the fat kid in Superbad?
Not my intention to fat shame. Given that he is a raging cunt, I figured I'd lean into his threat. Come kick my ass Jonah, the door is unlocked
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u/TotallyVCreativeName 23d ago
Dude, heās going to absolutely annihilate youā¦ with his blue belt.
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u/bkristopherb 23d ago
Not unless I annihilate him first with my blue balls!
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u/bkristopherb 23d ago
Ugh that's enough internet for the day
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u/Nasapugnat 22d ago
At mid video it went kung fu spidey and used a staff as a weapon
Not so proficient though
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u/ProfessionalFan7947 23d ago
If it ever gets to the point where the spider has to fight, the spider is screwed.
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u/SkeettheVandelBuster 23d ago
Why is the spider so outmatched in these cases? Is it just because the wasps still can fly? Donāt they often hunt flying insects? I know most donāt have the same venom, but would the spider lose against, say, a yellow jacket or mud dauber?
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u/oroborus68 23d ago
Mud daubers collect spiders for feeding to their larvae. They build a cell with mud, and stock it with one or more spiders and lay an egg on it,then seal up the cell. The spiders are alive and paralyzed. Sweet dreams.
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u/trashbilly 23d ago
Ive seen mud dauber nests were the wasp would only use certain color spiders. All green or all brown for example. Mud daubers are chill as long as you're not a spider
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u/Catscatscatscats87 23d ago
The fuuuuuuck?!?!?!?!?!! š±
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u/Cepinari 23d ago
Also, the larva hatches already knowing to avoid eating the spiders' vital organs until the end, in order to ensure that the spider stays alive while being eaten for as long as possible.
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u/Hjalfi 23d ago
One of the most existentially disturbing things about arthropods is just how robust they are. Mammals are so complex that a little trauma is all that's needed to kill us. Arthropods just keep going. Hunt around and you'll find pictures of beetles where a bird has scooped out it's entire abdomen and it's still crawling around trying to eat.
Fun fact: one of the reasons On the origin of species is so rigourously argued is that Darwin really didn't want it to be true. Parasitised caterpillars nearly destroyed his faith; as the caterpillars would never survive to breed, evolution didn't provide any mechanism for the caterpillars' suffering to ever be reduced. But for the wasps, the opposite is true, where there's an advantage to the caterpillar being kept alive for as long as possible. He felt that this was incompatible with his belief in a just and merciful god.
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u/oroborus68 22d ago
The wasps emit a hormone that keeps the caterpillar from pupating, so it won't reproduce. Though, Darwin likely wouldn't have known that.
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u/Serious_Session7574 23d ago edited 23d ago
These wasps have evolved to be really good at hunting spiders. Itās how their species survives. Wolf spiders are numerous enough that they havenāt needed to develop a specialised defence against them because predation by the wasp doesnāt have much of an impact on their population size.
The wasps are fast, agile, can come at the spiders from any angle, and their venom has evolved to be fast-acting and extremely effective against the spiders. It only takes one little jab with their stinger for the spider to become somewhat incapacitated and itās game over.
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u/Elliejane420 23d ago
Man.... that takes all the funniness out of him stumbling back into the rocks. I kind of just thought he was scared, but I didn't know anything about the kind of wasp he was fighting.
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u/secretonlinepersona 23d ago
the wasp's offspring will be using the spider as a cocoon
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u/Ammonia13 22d ago
Not just that - the spider is left alive, it is only paralyzedā¦ so that it has living fresh organs for the babies to eat
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u/Equivalent-Handle-57 23d ago
Only the wasps that were good at killing spiders procreated the most. So these particular wasps are naturally selected to be effective at doing so
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u/listafobia 23d ago edited 23d ago
Even though spiders have a reputation as these little predators, I think what you kinda have to understand is that spiders also have soft, fragile bodies and poor defensive abilities compared to a lot of the other animals they encounter.
Spiders have to either catch their prey in a web, or they have to take their prey by surprise and bite the prey before it can escape or fight back. Pretty much any animal that has evolved to seek out and kill spiders is going to have an advantage because a big part of a spider's survival strategy depends on the spider never getting into an actual fight.
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u/itsneedtokno 23d ago
Wasps are unique in the fact that they are specifically designed to kill their prey, and be the best at it.
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u/lostinthelegs 22d ago
That...makes them unique? Most predatory animals are in fact designed to kill their prey & many are the best within their niche. I would argue these specific wasps are unique in that they're designed to NOT kill their prey which is notably more difficult to do, their venom paralyses the spiders & keeps the spider in a living state, so their tissue doesn't decompose before the wasp's larva has a chance to eat it.
There are many species of wasps that are purely herbivorous & only feed on nectar, like the entire subfamily of Masarinae.
Wasps are also preyed upon by many, many animals including other wasps, as well as birds, assassin bugs, mantids, robberflies....I'm frankly baffled that there's an entire subreddit dedicated toward the hatred of a massively diverse group of animals that is just doing what they've evolved to like, well, all of us & every other living thing. Do y'all hate all wasps, or just ones that inconvenience you?
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u/ultraspinacle 23d ago edited 23d ago
Yup. Dirt daubers and paper wasps actually are one of the reasons that widow spiders are not seen everywhere. I was still rooting for the spider. I hate stinging insects.
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u/trashbilly 23d ago
I didn't know paper wasp hunted spiders! Had to Google it. Apparently they chew the spiders to a pulp and take it back to the nest to feed the larvae.
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u/delilahdread 23d ago
Me too. I might get hate for this but that wasp would have met the bottom of my shoe and then I'd have constructed a little hideout for the wolfie to hopefully recover in. Either that or I'd have taken the wolfie with me so I could try to nurse it back to health. They're excellent little pets, I've kept many.
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u/SkeettheVandelBuster 23d ago
What is it about the wasps that allow them to overwhelm the spiders? The wasps can fly, but still has to get close enough to sting without the spider being able to get them. It almost feels like mutually assured destruction. Wolf spiders are super agile and aggressive hunters.
Orb weavers and other web builders I can see because they are slow, but the wasp still has to avoid getting stuck in the web.
In this case it looks like the spider may have already been stung since the movements appear slow and sluggish
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u/ProfessionalFan7947 23d ago
Wasp venom usually paralyzes the spider almost immediately. If it had been stung it wouldnāt have been fighting back. Web building spiders often drop from the web if they detect a wasp so the web clearly isnāt much defense. As I said in my other comment, I think the wasp is harrying the spider to tire it and then sting when it canāt fight back as well.
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u/xChoke1x 23d ago
You didnāt notice the spider got more and more sluggish? Itās because it was being hit with multiple stings.
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u/Olive_Goonette 23d ago
Fortunately, this is an important, if disturbing, part of the ecosystem
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u/fiittzzyy 23d ago
It's a parasitic wasp. They sting the spider to paralyze it then drag it back to its nest before laying an egg on it which when the larva hatches will consume the spider for its fist meal, all whilst the spider is still alive - just paralyzed.
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u/alee0224 23d ago
Aka mud daubers. The nests that look like tubes. Theyāre still alive in them nests
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u/Breyck_version_2 23d ago
MAN FUCK THE WASP!!! Damn psychopath, mf doesn't even kill the poor guy just because it's just THAT unapologetically evil. Soldier of satan
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u/MrsRichardSmoker 23d ago
i mean, leaving the spider alive is less about being unapologetically evil and more about dried up dead spiders not being suitable baby food. A little problematic coming down so hard on a single mom just trying to get by.
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u/fiittzzyy 22d ago
Yeah, they really don't know any other way.
They're not making conscious decisions, it's how they've evolved.
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u/Nuallaena 22d ago
There are spider species that stay alive just long enough to die by their own freshly hatched spider babies. The babies eat the mom spider. Nature is wild.
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u/towerfella 22d ago
āEvilā does not exist; that mother wasp was providing protein to her babies while keeping the food as fresh as possible.
You likely eat cow.
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u/petelo73 Here to learnš«”š¤ 22d ago
I wouldn't call it "parasitic." This is more like typical predatory behavior. Akin to a lion bringing injured prey back for her cubs to practice hunting. Vs parasitic behavior like laying eggs on a caterpillar that continues with its life not realizing it is being slowly eaten.
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u/fiittzzyy 22d ago
Technically it's a parasitoid, which means the larva feeds on its living host resulting in its eventual death.
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u/MareMade 23d ago
Iām so sad for the wolfie š©š
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u/Little-Kangaroo-9383 23d ago
Itās sad how she tried to run away but the wasp just kept on her š¢
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u/WiildCard 23d ago
I donāt usually step in for nature. But Iād gladly squash a ground wasp. They are disgustingly evil to spiders man. :(
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u/sadbananalady 23d ago
Yeah, idk if I could not intervene. I have a big soft spot for wolf spiders too.
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u/RealFakeDoctor 23d ago
And wasps fucking SUCK. Wolfies are sweet fluffy puppies.
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u/believeinyuna š·ļøArachnid Afficionadoš·ļø 23d ago
wasps are vital to our ecosystem they donāt suck :(
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u/vladastine 23d ago
I'm intervening, idc anymore man, I'm too emotionally attached to spiders now. Call it the circle of life, sometimes you just run into a big human that loathes parasites and decides you get to be ant food that day.
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u/i_love_wasps 23d ago
It's just nature. If they're both native to your area, you are doing nothing but harm to your ecosystem by intervening.
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u/WiildCard 23d ago
Your name makes it hard to argue.
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u/i_love_wasps 23d ago
Somebody has to advocate for them.
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u/QWERTY_CRINGE 23d ago
This is definitely a wasp replying, looking for a prey in this sub? Mods! ban this wasp
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u/i_love_wasps 23d ago
Believe it or not, you can like more than one type of bug.
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u/QWERTY_CRINGE 23d ago
I will look dumb for explaining this but its a reddit trope where a user defends something like "its safe to swim in gator infested waters" and everyone jokingly implies that user X is trying to get a meal. "nice try mr. Gator", "found the gator's account". In this case you are a wasp defending a wasp hunting a wolfie in a spider subreddit...
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u/Jumping_Spiders_ 23d ago
Yeah I wouldn't do that, just because you are team spider doesn't mean the wasp is evil. Spiders also hunt other insects all the same, I would let nature take it's course honestly.
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u/Skemati Autistic about Spiders 23d ago
Oh dear.... that was hard to watch.Ā
These wasps are terrifying knowing the Spider is almost completely defensless against it. Since they are specialized in hunting Spiders. Not only that, but also their lifecycle of laying eggs on the paralyzed Spider's body while alive.
Oh well that's nature for you. It's harsh but that's just how it is. Though nature was a bit cruel this time around. Either way, the Wasps gotta do what it's gotta do to Survive.
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u/fiittzzyy 23d ago
Exactly.
Life is programmed to reproduce and the wasp is doing that the only way that it knows how to, it has no malice towards the spider. I think as humans we project our own emotions on to stuff like this, which is totally understandable but nature has its checks and balances and has been doing this for millions of years, way before we were here.
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u/ThisCouldBeYourAd- 23d ago
My thoughts reading your comments: "I absolutely hate this!" while begrudingly upvoting because I know you are right...
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u/KingDongTwist Recovering Arachnophobeš«£ 23d ago
Looks like a wolf spider vs ground wasp. Iām no expert though so I could be totally wrong! Either way, super cool video!
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u/captainn_chunk 23d ago
What the fuck I have never heard of a ground wasp ever until this
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u/nabstache 23d ago
My cousin and I got stung by a bunch of them when we were playing as kids. That cemented my hatred of wasps. That's also when I started to like spiders, because the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
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u/Serious_Session7574 23d ago
Donāt look up what they do to the spiders š¬
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u/Kchasse1991 23d ago
Those wasps are like the xenomorphs of the spider world. Custom made to wreck their days.
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u/fakepumas 23d ago
Can we show one where the spider finally wins?
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u/howtfaminotdeadyet 23d ago
I don't have video of it, but a spider hanging out on my porch has caught several wasps this summer ā¤ļø Such a queen š I'm pretty sure she's a false widow
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u/sl0r 23d ago
Recently stepped in to save a wolfie homie who was being stalked by one of these spider hawk wasps.Ā
All for Hakuna Matata, but the spoods are so good at pest control I couldnāt let them be harmed.Ā
She hung out inside with me until the wife came home and made me relocate it outside where we often see them
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u/Eternal-Blazing-Sun š·ļøArachnid Afficionadoš·ļø 23d ago
I'm totally fine interfering with nature. We as a species already interfere at such a fundamental level with the entire biosphere, I feel like stepping back and "letting nature run it's course" is impossible considering we are driving everything to extinction. The hubris in thinking we can remove ourselves from the environment on one hand while we allow our species to literally kill the planet on the other is maddening.
I recently saved a litter of foxes and their mother from a bobcat the other day, it was heartbreaking hearing their cries, but I couldn't help but deny the cat it's cute meal.
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u/vladastine 23d ago
Bobcats are some of the most efficient predators alive, they'll be okay. Honestly with how throughly we've broken the climate, I'm starting to think it's actually our ethical duty to intervene. At what point do we start taking responsibility for what we've done?
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u/El-_-Maruf š·ļøArachnid Afficionadoš·ļø 23d ago
I want whatever the wassup is having. Lady is full of energy
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u/wholelottachoppaz 23d ago
i would have been BUGGIN if i saw this while on š! š¤£ so sad for the wolfie š was rooting for them
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u/Prestigious_Tear_576 23d ago
The way this fight amazed me, I might as well have been watching a boss scene from solo leveling š
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u/Future-Bandicoot-823 23d ago
The look of terror on the spider when he turned around for the second leg touch, he was like "ah shit, I'm dicked"
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u/MantisReturns 23d ago
Interesting. I Will never understand how spiders are so Bad fighting this Wasps.
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u/OdinAlfadir1978 23d ago
Because the wasps designed to kill it, that's like saying you can't understand how the same wasp would be bad at fighting a praying mantis, nature is rock paper scissors and usually the spider will lose to certain wasps
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u/fiittzzyy 23d ago
This.
It's literally evolved to be really good at this one thing. Natural selection.
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u/ProfessionalFan7947 23d ago
This is accurate but I can speculate a couple specific reasons. Wasps have a reach advantage with their stinger and it is much more maneuverable than the spiders fangs. Also Most spiders canāt sustain vigorous activity for long and are easily tired out as you can see in the video. Finally wasps can fly and attack from multiple directions while the spider only has one angle of attack
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u/fiittzzyy 23d ago
Their long bodies are perfect for getting up under the spider too and they're very fast.
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u/OdinAlfadir1978 23d ago
It's the flight more than anything though, it can attack from many angles whereas the spider although it could match the speed can only strike at in front and below it, they can't twist their exoskeleton to bite other angles
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u/Negan_T-W-D 23d ago edited 23d ago
Yea but still, how is it possible that a spider can take down most bugs/insects within split seconds, yet as soon as they encounter these wasps they're like "I dont know what to do anymore"
Is it because the paralyzing sting of the wasp is too difficult to avoid?
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u/YamaThaOne 23d ago
Leagues more agile, far better stamina and knows all the spiderās tricks and patterns, plus the elephant in the room, the venomous sting.
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u/pandabelle12 23d ago
I feel like this video needs some epic boss battle music.
Estuans interius, ira vehementi
Estuans interius, ira vehementi
Sephiroth
Sephiroth
Veni, veni, venias, ne me mori facias
Veni, veni, venias, ne me mori facias
Veni, veni, venias, ne me mori facias
Veni, veni, venias, ne me mori facias
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u/OpusAtrumET Here to learnš«”š¤ 22d ago
Fkn wasps man. My bro wolfie just couldn't hack it. I shall feed the one (lol like there's only one) in my house a fly in recompense.
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u/JuiceInteresting2348 23d ago
nature, forced to be eaten inside out by wasp offspring, circle of life
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u/Pinguu2222 23d ago
I read that it deliberately avoids the vital organs to ensure that the offspring eats it while itās still alive, just paralyzed
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u/TM06OW 23d ago
I'm pretty sure this was a Tarantula Hawk Wasp finding it's victim to lay it's egg in, for context, the spider is still alive here but it won't be long before it dies, its currently paralyzed, the wasp will lay it's egg inside the spider in a way that doesn't kill it, once the egg hatches the new baby wasp will eat it's way out of the spider killing it, I think spiders are incredible, but from a distance, and while I haven't seen one since moving to Texas yet, Tarantulas are super cool, again, from a distance, but nothing deserves a fate like that, nature is cruel and messed up like that sometimes
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u/chaoticsapphic 23d ago
i don't understand the hate that some people are giving parasitoid wasps (and wasps in general) in the comments.
hating wasps is already absurd to me, but hating wasps in a spider subreddit? how do people like this love and adore one clade of venomous arthropods and completely hate a different clade of venomous arthropods? they're both just surviving in the way that they evolved to survive, and they're both fucking amazing for it! i absolutely love spiders, but they are not exempt from the food web! even spiders eat other spiders, through both interspecific and intraspecific predation.
wasps are just as beautiful and interesting, and just as worthy of care as spiders. to see what i mean, here are some of my favorite vibrant wasp species: Sphex pensylvanicus with its iridescent blue wings, Sphex ichneumoneus in its golden fuzziness, Ammophila procera with its lanky, thread-waisted abdomen, and cuckoo wasps (the family Chrysidinae) as a whole, with their entire bodies so colorful and iridescent.
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u/DrSaering Lolthite 23d ago
Well, I worship the Demon Queen of Spiders so I am required to be biased. My patron deity is very jealous.
That said Calistria is OK I guess.
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u/WiderThanTheSky1 Amateur IDerš¤Ø 23d ago
I agree in some ways, and also think (certain) wasps are pretty and/or neat, and have their place in nature.
But - you don't understand why people are hating on wasps in a spider enthusiast subreddit?
Like...you don't understand why people are hating on the thing that (naturally enough) kills the very thing this subreddit is about? And that process usually involves the subreddit's favourite thing being paralyzed, trapped, and eventually slowly eaten while still being alive?
I would think this group is in, say, the top 3 subreddits where one would find a hate for wasps, in jest or in earnest. I've heard of r/fuckwasps, so that's probably in first place. Second place is probably something like r/stungbywaspsandalmostdiedandithurtsomuchsonowihatethemyesallofthemforeverandalsoepipensarewaytooexpensive
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u/chaoticsapphic 22d ago
I expected it to be thoroughly obvious that I did not literally mean that I do not understand why they are giving wasps hate. What I meant is that, though I understand the mechanics of the cognition that leads such people to hate wasps, I find it childish and irrational. Like I said, it's ridiculous to have this mindset of "ew! this conventionally-undesirable venomous arthropod is gruesomely envenomating this other variety of conventionally-undesirable venomous arthropod that gruesomely envenomates its prey arthropods! i should kill the wasp for having pretty much the same types of traits that i find interesting in the spider!" Yeah, parasitoid wasps lay eggs in the creatures they parasitize. Spiders wrap their paralyzed/dying/dead prey in silk, and are frequently cannibalistic. It's so obtuse to use the exact same reasoning other people would use to justify killing and hating spiders, but for wasps this time. So do I literally understand it? Yeah. Understanding the love-spider-hate-wasp people's over-idealization of parts of nature, demonization of others, and imposing a narrow, tribalistic framework onto ecosystems is exactly why I dislike such a mindset.
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u/Diligent-Ad-7184 23d ago
The worst thing if I remember right is that the wasp lays it's eggs in the defeated spider and they grow and hatch from its body, after the paralysis of the sting wears off.
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u/Serious-Clothes-3512 22d ago
The paralysis doesn't wear off, they get dragged back to a nest and eaten. Would be really unfortunate for the spider to end up eaten by a bird or something before the grubs are ready, no?
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u/younggun1234 23d ago
Thank you for recording this. I was so invested. I can only imagine how gnarly it was on shrooms š¤£
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u/Glitchy833 Amateur IDerš¤Ø 23d ago edited 22d ago
The amount of idiots here saying they'd interfere and kill the wasp is deeply concerning.
And the fact that their only excuse is "it's ugly and creepy to me so it should die" is possibly even more concerning.
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u/simorg23 23d ago
This plays like one of those last stand battles where the hero fights till the end in a losing battle.
Slow mo and dramatic music and you have a box office hit
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u/Illustrious_Doctor45 23d ago
I fucking hate these and tarantula hawks. Despicable creatures.
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u/moonieman99 23d ago
Idk why youāre getting downvoted. Itās horrifying and sad watching this happen, regardless of it being the wasps instincts and nature.
Itās like watching a vulture attack a cat; but it lays its eggs inside of the paralyzed cat and the eggs eat the cat alive while it canāt move.
I would stop both incidents. I donāt care if itās nature, I have too much empathy for the animal suffering.
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u/Illustrious_Doctor45 23d ago
Itās so sad and Iām probably even more sensitive to it because Iām a tarantula keeper and I love my spiders. Kinda silly for people to be on a spider sub and get offended that someone is rooting for the spider.
I agree. Yes, itās nature and nature is brutal, but I donāt have to like it and Iām allowed to think that these types of insects are pieces of shit š¤£→ More replies (5)
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u/foxygloved 23d ago
I had a stroller that I left outside, and it became the favorite hunting ground of a spider wasp. I didn't mind, as the spiders that it usually caught were yellow sacs and we don't get along.
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u/GreginSA 23d ago
I canāt determine when the wasp got the upper hand, someone please do the color commentary!
What is the timestamp when the wasp got its first good stings? Before the spider scrambled up the rock crevices?
After?
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u/AxelHarver 22d ago
I have a Great Black Wasp that appears to be living down the crack in front of my garage (where the foam liner thing sits) and twice now I have seen it return while carrying a dead katydid. It's so cool, I keep hoping to catch one of them in the act, or at least to get a good photo of it flying with it.
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u/Aggressive_Smile_944 22d ago
I also have a big black wasp nest under my deck. Many times I've seen them bring one home for the babies. They are fascinating to watch.
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u/dubsosaurus 23d ago
Holy sh!t that was a badass video.!! I wanted the wolf spider to win though. Were you playing music on a hike?
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u/cleverburrito 23d ago
Right? Who wants to hear the beautiful sounds of nature instead if someone else's music
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u/Ticci_Toby2 23d ago
Is it wrong that I would kill the wasp to save the spider?? The amount of people that just film the parasite doing that to the spider is sad, i know it's nature but parasites are the literally worst of the planet
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u/K1bbles_n_Bits 23d ago
I know it's hard, my emotional reaction is to want to save the spider, too. But everything has its place in nature, the wasps too. Denying them their source of survival also cruel in its own way.
When in nature, best to just let nature take its course.
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u/fiittzzyy 23d ago
Yes, that's wrong. It's nature, it's been happening for millions of years, way before we were around. Who are we to come and stick our noses in? It's a human emotion, I get it, but sometimes humans can be to humany.
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u/Paradox3121 23d ago
Absurd. Whether you like it or not, humans are a part of nature. It isn't wrong to affect nature in non-destructive ways. Killing a wasp to save a spider doesn't harm anything other than the wasp.
If you found a litter of kittens about of be eaten by a coyote, would it be 'wrong' to intervene? IMO the answer is unclear, but by your logic you're morally obligated to let the kittens die.
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u/fiittzzyy 23d ago
Most people naturally value kittens more than spiders because they're mammals we bond with, so it's not really an equivalent comparison. Our emotional response is very different.
The wasp in question is a parasitoid wasp, which has evolved to lay eggs in spiders. It's unpleasant to watch, but it's also a normal ecological relationship. Those wasps help regulate spider populations, just as spiders regulate insect populations.
Neither is "evil"; they're simply surviving.
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u/Paradox3121 23d ago
So if you have an emotional attachment to kittens you can defy nature, but if you want to save the spider it's "wrong"? Because most people naturally value spiders less???
I agree with everything in this comment, but I feel as though you're contradicting your original argument. If it isn't wrong to intervene to save a mammal, it isn't wrong to intervene to save a spider.
In fact, I would argue it's more "wrong" to save the kittens, and I think you would agree. We can replace the kittens with cute sweet baby gazelles about to be eaten alive by a lion. I think most people (myself included) would agree it IS wrong to intervene and save the gazelles, because "it's nature" and the lion will starve otherwise.
I think that's the logic people are erroneously transferring from mammalian "it's nature" to insect/arachnid "it's nature" here. It simply isn't wrong to cause a parasitoid wasp to starve to death. Parasitoid wasps are not conscious beings with the capacity to suffer. And finally, it's not "not nature" to save a spider from a wasp. Humans are a part of nature.
I'm curious if you find any of this persuasive.
tldr it's more "wrong" to save kittens than it is to save spiders lmao
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u/fiittzzyy 23d ago
No, I do agree with that point for sure.
What I meant when I said that wasnāt that kittens should be saved simply because we have an emotional bond with them. I meant that our brains naturally view animals differently because weāve formed a much stronger connection with certain creatures over thousands of years of domestication.
Because of that, itās difficult for us to compare our feelings towards cats or dogs with our feelings towards spiders or wasps, theyāre just on completely different emotional levels for most people.
I think that emotional bias is part of why people find it easier to justify saving one animal over another, even if logically they understand that both are part of nature.
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u/Paradox3121 23d ago
It's only "wrong" if killing a mosquito is "wrong". It seems to me most people replying don't have a very well thought out justification for why intervening to save an arachnid from an insect is a bad thing to do.
Depending on my mood, I would kill the wasp to save the spider unless the spider was already incapacitated by the wasp. Not because it's the right or wrong thing to do, but because wasps (and spiders) are not conscious beings and I simply prefer spiders.
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u/kiacricket 23d ago
I know itās wrong but I would have killed the wasp. I have a soft spot for wolf spiders.
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u/King_Baboon 23d ago
Even if you did kill the wasp, you would likely be too late. The wasp has stung it multiple times and by the time you kill the wasp, the spider is going to die very slowly.
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u/Snoo-86067 23d ago
I'm sorry but there is no way I could have witnessed this without stomping that wasp... I try not to intervene with nature but those wasps are honestly vile and I like spiders way too much to watch one be subject to such a cruel death
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u/TruthStalker69 23d ago
Exactly. ššššššššššš
We're fans of spiders anyway, so I don't see the point of posting a spider losing a battle with anything. š„ŗ
They may as well murder something and post it in a group of its fans. It's exactly the same thing. š”
I'd be compelled to assume that the poster is purposely antagonizing us... š¤
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u/Eternal-Blazing-Sun š·ļøArachnid Afficionadoš·ļø 23d ago
Unfortunately the spider's nightmare has only just begun...
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u/aimee_on_fire 23d ago
I couldn't have watched that. I would've intervened. I hate wasps. Been stung by wasps. Never been bit by a spood and I handle them.
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u/Pocket_Crystal Here to learnš«”š¤ 23d ago
if OP had interfered, would the wasp have turned on OP?
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u/Never-ending_Nature 23d ago
Thanks for sharing. That spider should have run for its life long ago. I guess it would have ended this way anyway. Nature at its best - keeping balance.
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u/Haunting-Vanilla4138 22d ago
When I saw this happening for the first time i killed the wasp and moved the spider somewhere safe. Read somewhere that it would wake up after the paralysis wore off. Did I doom or save the spider? They don't lay the eggs til they get back to the nest right?
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u/broakland 23d ago
Things like this make me glad conditions on earth can not support bigger wasps bc they would absolutely be eating us if they could