“Oho!” I muttered to myself. “Here we go again.”

I was planning to thoroughly clean my room when I noticed an intricately built spider web in one corner of the room. In its middle was perched a spider looking at me with big, hopeful eyes.

“Do you want me to interview you?” I asked, remembering all the big and small creatures I had interviewed so far, like the housefly, the mosquito, the honeybee, the lizard, the markhor and even a big, scaly crocodile.

It nodded its head. Since it was clear I wasn’t going to get any cleaning done, I reached for my notebook and pencil.

“Please introduce yourself?”

“Well, as you can see I am an ordinary spider. Most people think that we are part of the insect family, but we are actually arachnids. We have eight legs not six, and our body is divided into two parts, unlike insects. We are found on every continent except Antarctica. There are almost 45,000 spider species in the world and it will amaze you to know that at any given time, a human being is never more than 10 feet away from a spider.

I gulped audibly … and it hurried on, “Don’t worry, most of the time we are hiding away somewhere in some crevices minding our own business.”

“And what business might that be?” I asked suspiciously.

“Spinning beautiful, intricate webs, of course, to lure preys which we can then eat,” it answered smugly.

“We are special creatures, there are many poets and writers around the world who have written funny, sarcastic and even dramatic poems on us. For instance, the famous poet Allama Iqbal wrote a very beautiful poem A Spider and A Fly about us. We are very proud that such a distinguished poet chose our species to teach children such valuable moral lessons.”

“Do you know that when Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was migrating to Medina with Hazrat Abu Bakr (ra) as his companion, he sought refuge in a cave? The assassins from Makkah were in hot pursuit, but a spider spun a large web at the mouth of the cave. The enemies were sure that no one could have entered the cave recently since there was a large spider web in front of it, so they left. The 29th Surah of the Quran, Surah Al-’Ankabut is also named after us.”

“Well, yes. Spider webs are truly astonishing creations. Tell me, how do you produce such geometric designs?” I interrupted my talkative guest.

“We create webs out of silk that is extruded from our silk-spinning organs called spider spinnerets. Our webs can be in the shape of spiral orbs, funnels, triangles, sheets and tangled webs, based on how they are weaved. When it comes out of the spinneret, the spider silk is actually in liquid form. On coming into contact with air, it hardens, allowing us to create and build our webs.”

“People often hate us. They call us spooky, creepy and terrifying, but our diet consists of common insects and indoor pests like cockroaches, flies, moths and pesky mosquitoes. Many of these insects carry serious diseases and can cause illnesses such as typhoid, cholera and malaria. We weave webs that catch small insects and hence prevent the spread of many deadly diseases.

We also eat bugs such as mites, weevils, aphids and caterpillars, which feast on important food crops. According to some scientists, if there were no spiders, there would be widespread famine because your crops would be overrun by plant-destroying bugs. So you can consider us the world’s safest and most efficient pesticides, as we don’t have any chemical or toxic effect on crops.

“And if these reasons aren’t enough to respect us, we are the inspiration behind the superhero Spider-Man. You have to admit he is pretty cool! Though being bitten by a spider will not turn you into Spider-Man! Our venom doesn’t have that amazing side effect.”

“But your bite is venomous and dangerous for human beings?” I asked quickly.

“Most of the time, we spiders like to keep to ourselves and don’t attack without reason. But some of our species are very dangerous. Brown recluse spiders, yellow sac spiders, wolf spiders, black widows and funnel-web spiders are some of the most venomous spiders, but they attack only when provoked or while defending their eggs.

But even that has a silver lining. A lot of research is being done on spider venom to treat medical conditions such as brain strokes, tumours and cancer. It is also being used to create painkiller drugs. By closely observing our spider webs, scientists are now experimenting with lab-made silk, which is being used in bullet-proof clothing, parachutes, nets and much more.

I scribbled furiously to get all the details written down. Luckily my guest didn’t need too many questions to talk about itself, but I had to know one thing.

“How do spiders avoid getting tangled in their own webs? I mean if flies and other insects get stuck on the web strands, how do you avoid a similar fate?”

“Now that’s a very good question,” my guest beamed. “The silk we weave is made up of both sticky and non-sticky silk strands. The strands for catching prey are dotted with glue, so we know which threads to avoid. We also have moveable claws on our feet which grip and release the web’s threads as we walk across our web.”

“Unbelievable, but yes, it’s interesting!” I said.

“And what is the ‘gossamer effect’ that is seen after floods?” I asked, remembering the images of vast sheets of cobwebs covering trees after the floods in Sindh, in 2010.

“Yes, after heavy floods or deluge in any area, you might see a long stretch of the landscape covered with our spider webs. It is the result of millions of spiders banding their webs into massive safety nets to escape the flooding waters and reach higher ground. Though this phenomenon helps us survive, it is also a blessing for people hit by natural disasters. Our webs serve as mosquito nets and there are fewer mosquitoes than expected, given the amount of stagnant water that is standing around in the surrounding area.”

“So thankfully, it means that you are not an endangered species?” I asked thinking of how all other insects and wild animals had always complained that the activities of human beings have destroyed their habitats and driven them to the brink of extinction.

“Oh no! Ecosystems are all linked together and when there is an unbalance, it has a catastrophic effect on all species. Climate change, forest clearance and habitat erosion are the biggest threat to spiders. And without us, your food supply will be in real danger from insects and pests.”

“Hmm … all this is very interesting and I am impressed … but now I am sorry, I have to clean my room and the cobweb has to go,” I said very firmly.

“Yes, of course, you can clean your room,” said my tiny guest magnanimously. “I was bored here anyway. I think I will build my web in a new place now.”

The spider dropped down from a dangling thread from its web and fell to the ground. It scuttled away silently and disappeared from my view. I thankfully took the duster and began my cleaning, thinking about all the marvellous creations of Allah.

Interesting spider facts

• Arachnophobia is an intense fear of spiders.

• Baby spiders are called spiderlings.

• Centuries ago, people would put spider webs on wounds to stop bleeding. Modern scientists discovered that spider webs contain Vitamin K, which is a coagulant that stops bleeding.

• Spiders have blue blood due to the presence of copper in their blood protein.

• Zebra leg tarantula, a species of spider is fried and eaten in Cambodia as a traditional snack.

• One spider can eat up to 2,000 insects in one year.

• The world’s biggest spider is the goliath spider. It hunts frogs, lizards, mice and even small snakes and baby birds.

• Tarantella is a type of southern Italian folk dance, characterised by a fast upbeat tempo accompanied by tambourines. It is said to be inspired by the state of frenzy which results from the bite of the tarantula spider.

• Research has found that different drugs affect the way spiders spin their webs, so examining the shape of a spider’s web can also help detect airborne chemicals and pollutants in an area.

• Spiders cannot chew their food. Instead, they have a mouth shaped similar to a drinking straw that they use to sip the liquefied insides of their prey.

Published in Dawn, Young World, June 10th, 2023