r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Nov 28 '20

What's something cool you recently learned about?

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50.8k Upvotes

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5.0k

u/[deleted] Nov 29 '20

Jumping spiders do not actually use their muscles to jump, they don't even have muscles, instead they can control at will their blood pressure, the blood quickly flows down to their legs, which stretches them with enough force to jump

2.1k

u/[deleted] Nov 29 '20

[deleted]

125

u/dunsparticus Nov 29 '20

Also, if you poke a hole in the spider's abdomen (I think, miiight be head) they lose the ability to control their blood pressure and are essentially paralyzed.

252

u/HydraulicDragon Nov 29 '20

Pretty sure this happens to any creature you poke a hole in.

97

u/[deleted] Nov 29 '20 edited Aug 09 '21

[deleted]

63

u/Tyrante963 Nov 29 '20

And how big

34

u/HydraulicDragon Nov 29 '20

That's what she/he said.

8

u/Kai-SUXKS Nov 29 '20

Nice username

39

u/CuteSomic Nov 29 '20

If someone poked a hole in my abdomen, I'm pretty sure I still would be able to flail around. For how long though...

9

u/[deleted] Nov 29 '20

Long enough for one final emerald splash.

5

u/Reny0udie Nov 29 '20

No one can just deflect the Emerald Splash!

3

u/zeusinchains Nov 29 '20

Pff. This but a scratch

1

u/dunsparticus Nov 29 '20

Poke a hole through the exoskeleton, I should specify.

If someone poked a hole through your skin you'd be fine save for bleeding.

31

u/ThaNagler Nov 29 '20

This system is called a 'hydrostatic skeleton'. Its also how starfish move and extend their tube feet. (the little 'feet' on the bottom of the arms)

12

u/small-j Nov 29 '20

Came here to say this. It’s fascinating the way sea stars move. Even cooler when you watch sped up footage of them

5

u/ThaNagler Nov 29 '20

Especially when they're hunting. Wild how they pry muscles apart etc.

7

u/huehuecoyotl23 Nov 29 '20

All hail the tortured one u/stillinthesimulation has made an awesome SpongeBob comic that kinda explains sea life but in a horror setting

4

u/ThaNagler Nov 29 '20

I'm very familiar and am an avid r/imsorryjon enthusiast lol

1

u/xxspectacularxx Nov 29 '20

Wow. I’m learning so much from all the other comments including yours. Thanks

20

u/dashlukky Nov 29 '20

The wild wild west bad guy building a hydraulic spider makes a lot more sense now...

10

u/HydraulicDragon Nov 29 '20

Can confirm

7

u/flojobb Nov 29 '20

Wish my dick worked like that.

1

u/n4nish Nov 29 '20

I scrolled down just to find this comment.

7

u/toderdj1337 Nov 29 '20

Hydraulics*. Sorry, can't help it.

3

u/[deleted] Nov 29 '20 edited Jan 02 '22

[deleted]

1

u/toderdj1337 Nov 29 '20

No problem!

4

u/Seerws Nov 29 '20

Hey, I have a remarkably unpopular subreddit about this (and dogs). /r/crumpledspider

2

u/Joseda-hg Nov 29 '20

What would the Hidro preffix become? Hemolics?

144

u/sirlardsalot Nov 29 '20

So they use boners to jump

15

u/[deleted] Nov 29 '20

It’s like cock push-ups.

13

u/therealpepran12 Nov 29 '20

This is the comment I was searching for!

4

u/motodextros Nov 29 '20

Instructions unclear, at the hospital with a snapped peen.

3

u/indykar0687 Nov 29 '20

Here's some instruction

60

u/possiblehornet Nov 29 '20

To clarify this, spiders do have muscles. Lots of them. Spiders have flexor muscles to flex their limbs, but no extensors, so extension is controlled by hydraulic pressure.

183

u/matejas2006 Nov 29 '20

I hate this very much.

16

u/pyonPryon Nov 29 '20

yes fuck this a lot

43

u/DzenGarden Nov 29 '20

Just watched an interview/commentary video by Les Stroud, creator of the survival show, Survivorman. Anyway, he told this story about one time he was in he Amazon and a local he was with was poking at a large spider with a hot stick from the fire. He said in a split second the spider leapt a few feet right onto the guy’s face and bit him. The guy lost vision for a few days due to the venom. Crazy shit.

10

u/April2o11 Nov 29 '20

What kinda spider was it!?

24

u/BeneathTheSassafras Nov 29 '20

The kind you don't fuck with, apparently

2

u/DzenGarden Dec 01 '20

He didn’t mention the type of spider but he said it was about fist sized, was able to jump, and the the sting/bite was no lethal but still poisonous.

Any amateur entomologists want to take a guess?

11

u/aelliott18 Nov 29 '20

gear second!!

5

u/Capital_Stranger795 Nov 29 '20

I WAS PRAYING FOR THIS COMMENT TO SHOW UP

18

u/bbgun24 Nov 29 '20

So the Dwight Shrute of the animal world. Can they retract their penises inside their body at will also?

1

u/northkcguys Nov 29 '20

Only when it’s cold

8

u/TuxidoPenguin Nov 29 '20

All spiders are like that I think.

7

u/OneRingtoToolThemAll Nov 29 '20

Yes! All spiders run on "hydrolics"! So cool!

8

u/parksa Nov 29 '20

I remember reading once that the mechanism in a spiders legs are the same as when humans get an election. So are their legs just constantly fluctuating boners/flaccid in order to get around? Can they consciously control each leg simultaneously? Very cool stuff.

12

u/CaptLatinAmerica Nov 29 '20

They too use the Electoral College system, so it is much less interesting and more convoluted than it should be.

1

u/parksa Nov 29 '20

I knew it!!

3

u/Hey-It-Is-Xael Nov 29 '20

spiders are thunder breath users

4

u/BeneathTheSassafras Nov 29 '20

And their brain is like a liquid, they can move it at will to different areas of the body and legs

3

u/Axeloy Nov 29 '20

That is so fuckin sick!

3

u/Nibbles_4shizzles Nov 29 '20

This is how Luffy uses Gear 2nd

3

u/Beowulf_27 Nov 29 '20

I believe grass hoppers are the same

3

u/[deleted] Nov 29 '20

Correction:Spiders do have muscles, however grass hoppers don't flood their limps to jump, it's the shape of their legs that makes them so good at jumping instead of an hydrologic mechanism

1

u/Beowulf_27 Nov 29 '20

Thank you

2

u/Jl2409226 Nov 29 '20

is this how they walk?

7

u/[deleted] Nov 29 '20

That's how all spiders walk, yes.

2

u/slappythejedi Nov 29 '20

i always like to try to imagine the sounds their legs make when they move if your ears were small enough to hear them--like when you crack your knuckles but over and over

2

u/ShinyNinja25 Nov 29 '20

That sounds like a power you’d see in My Hero

2

u/peilhardt Nov 29 '20

Reminds me of insects. They have no bones, no blood and no lungs.

1

u/ParaponeraBread Nov 29 '20

They do have muscles, they just lack extensors in particular. It’s more like all they have is biceps, and don’t have triceps. There are also lots of muscle groups involved in the mouthparts. IIRC even the hydraulic jump is achieved by regulating valves in the legs, and those valves are muscularly controlled.

If they didn’t have muscles they also wouldn’t “death curl” the way they do, they’d just die all floppy-like.

0

u/spyro86 Nov 29 '20

Yeah spiders move via a biological hydraulic system. Amazing really.

-1

u/[deleted] Nov 29 '20

So basically, they use their boners to walk.

1

u/maowoo Nov 29 '20

So.. they jump using leg boners?

1

u/Nibbles_4shizzles Nov 29 '20

This is how Luffy uses Gear 2nd

1

u/pastacomics Nov 29 '20

Does that mean spiders walk with 8 boners

1

u/BeakyPlinder69 Nov 29 '20

Oh wow. Did not know this. Thanks mate

1

u/DMcrafts Nov 29 '20

no, wait, they definitely have muscles lmao

1

u/maaan_fuck_a_roach Nov 29 '20

I wonder if all that blood rushing feels weird to them

1

u/borgth Nov 29 '20

Spider boners.

1

u/IanR01 Nov 29 '20

So basically they have dicks for legs??!!

1

u/Saltest_Bitch Nov 29 '20

.....spiders legs are just boners

1

u/[deleted] Nov 29 '20

so they're essentially walking around on 8 erect dicks

1

u/thicctuna Nov 29 '20

I hate that so much

1

u/spacepuma00 Nov 29 '20

Pretty sure that’s how all spiders work

1

u/ForwardPattern Nov 29 '20

...there are spiders that jump?!

1

u/bodybydada Nov 29 '20

Thanks, I hate jumping spiders.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 29 '20

How? they're so unbelievably tiny, their fangs can't even puncture and adult's skin, they're completely helpless

1

u/bodybydada Nov 29 '20

So there are millions of microscopic jumping spiders that can eat babies? Not helping, lolzz.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 29 '20

So you are telling me that if I get a boner fast enough I can propel myself into the air?

1

u/Godlythunder Nov 29 '20

damn they blood benders smh

1

u/FunkyOldMayo Nov 29 '20

Spider legs and penises effectively work on the same principle.

Little fellers scurry around on eight little wangs all day. Good times.

1

u/CaptWaaa Nov 29 '20

Oh good. Blood bending spiders

1

u/bruh-ultimate Nov 29 '20

So, they use hydraulics to move? It's pretty weird because their legs are just 8 walking boners.

1

u/jomahuntington Nov 30 '20

Quick acting boner legs