29 Really Strange But True Facts About Spiders That Will Give You Goosebumps

The funnel-web spider's venom is extremely toxic to primates but mostly harmless to many other animals. There are no primates in Australia, apart from humans.

2. Daddy Longlegs have been around for at least 400 million years, barely changing, and predate the dinosaurs.

3. Some tarantulas keep frogs as pets so that these frogs can eat insects that burrow into their nest.

4. Spiders tune each strand of their web to a specific frequency by making some strands tighter than others so that when something is caught in it, the spider can easily pinpoint where it is. This is also used for determining whether the source of the sound is a food or a potential mate.

5. Male spiders give female spiders gifts of prey wrapped in silk to increase mating success. Wrapping the gift in silk prevents the female from stealing it without copulating and sometimes male spiders’ concealed gifts are just random trash.

There is a spider named Portia which is capable of insight, trial-and-error learning, and puzzle solving due to its source of food, which is, other spiders.

7. The gigantic, hairy "Goliath birdeater" tarantula spider is entirely harmless and passive toward humans and their bite would hardly compare to the sting of a wasp.

8. Female black widow spiders rarely eat their partners after mating and much of the documented evidence for mate cannibalism has taken place in laboratory cages where the males could not escape.

9. The Himalayan jumping spider can live at elevations greater than 20,000 feet. It relies on bugs being blown to those heights by the wind for food.

10. Jumping spiders chase laser pointers.

In 2011, a Missouri family sued the previous owners of a house that they had just bought after Brown recluse spiders "started bleeding out of the walls." An expert came in and estimated that the house was infested with 4,500 - 6,000 of the spiders.

12. In 2009, a rare textile made from the silk of more than a million wild spiders went on display today at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. One million golden orb-weaver spiders lent their silk to create a shimmering, golden textile. Each spider had to be caught and “milked” by hand.

13. The venom of the Brazilian wandering spider can cause an erection that lasts for hours.

14. There is a spider named Golden wheel spider that turns into a "wheel" and cartwheels away when it is in danger.

15. The Corolla spider uses quartz crystals to set traps and catch its prey.

The largest known fossil of a spider is only about half the size of its modern relatives. This means that the biggest spiders that exist today might be biggest spiders that have ever existed.

17. There exists a less venomous, invasive Brown widow spider that is slowly replacing the Black widow.

18. The fangs of an Australian funnel-web spider can penetrate fingernails and shoes.

19. Tarantula spiders reach full adulthood at around 10 years and female tarantula spiders have been known to live up to 30 or even 40 years.

20. Goliath Birdeater, which is the world’s largest spider, has a leg span the size of a child’s forearm, weighs as much as a puppy, can live for 25 years and has fangs strong enough to pierce skulls.

According to a research conducted at the Miami University, spiders like listening to classical music. When listening to techno and rap, they made their webs as far away from the speaker as possible, but when listening to Bach, they made their webs as near to the speaker as possible.

22. Daddy long legs prey upon venomous spiders like the black widow.

23. There isn’t a single reported case of a person dying from a Tarantula bite.

24. Black widow's bites produce muscle aches, nausea, and a paralysis of the diaphragm that can make breathing difficult; however, contrary to popular belief, most people who are bitten suffer no serious damage, let alone death.

25. There is an Annual Tarantula Exhibition, where participants are judged much like dogs in a dog show. Participants are judged on shiny coats, correct proportions, an active demeanor and proper stance. In 2014, the event was attended by more than 30,000 tarantulas and their keepers.