Crickets Overeat to Avoid Becoming Spider Meals

Fairy tales will tell you that the monster will want you fattened up first before it eats you. But in nature, fattening yourself up may just be the best way to avoid becoming someone's else's snack. That's at least true for crickets, which purposely overeat to give them a better chance of surviving an encounter with a predatory spider.

That's at least according to a study recently published in the journal Ecological Entomology, which found that not only can crickets tell when spiders pose an imminent threat, but they will take a number of preventative measures that might save their lives.

These predator-prey responses were assessed in a series of lab experiments in which more than 60 wood crickets (Nemobius sylvestris) and nursery web spiders (Pisaura mirabilis) were used. In some cases, the spiders were placed in a closed pot with a strawberry plant, where it was left for some time. Then, the spider was removed and a cricket was placed there instead.

Researchers are unsure if it's physical or chemical signals that allow crickets to pick up on spider activity, but it quickly became apparent that the chirping insects certainly knew a spider had been around not too long ago. The result is what the researchers call "stress eating," meaning crickets placed in a pot that had been previously occupied by a spider ate 72 percent more plant material on average, compared to one that had been placed in a pot never seen by spiders.

According to the study, this is likely a survival strategy for living in closed or cramped spaces near spiders. Knowing they cannot flee, crickets take action to get big fast, knowing that the predatory arachnids are less likely to attack larger prey.

"This is an important lesson for pest control," James Urton, who was not involved in the study, added in Science magazine. "Sprinkling a few spider cues on crops could drive certain pests away, but only if they find an easy exit. Otherwise, they could end up eating more."

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