Then there’s the portia spider - a kind of jumping spider - which appears to use trial and error when faced with new kinds of prey, and then seems to remember what worked when faced with similar prey.Īsked if spiders have brains, or neuronal circuity more like that of octopuses, Bond laughed, and said that while they have a centralized ganglion up in the front part of the face, “you probably don’t want to over-glamorize their intelligence.” Others appear to participate in lekking behavior, in which two or more males will perform for a female - duking it out through courtship displays - to gain her favor. Some spiders, he said, form aggregations and cooperate in brood care - in which adult spiders care for other spiders’ offspring.
