Namibian Arachnids That Roll Away from Danger | Spiders on Wheels |

 Spiders like wheels

Some species of spiders in the Namibian desert in South-west Africa, when faced by danger, fully retract their legs and make their bodies exactly like a wheel. Then, with a series of somersaults with their wheel-shaped bodies, they rapidly move away from danger.

These spiders measure some 2.5-4 centimetres and can move quite quickly, at 2 metres a second. In order to grasp what this speed means, let us give an example. The rotation of the spider's body in its wheel form is that of the wheels of a vehicle moving at 40 kilometers an hour.

Some species of spider use this technique to flee from their enemies. Most of the time these enemies are wild female raider wasps.When the spider, which builds it nest on the tops of the sand hills, sense the wasps beginning to dig at its nest, it rushes outside. First it takes a few steps to build up speed, then it folds in its five-jointed legs and gathering speed like a wheel rolling downhill, flees. If the spider built its nest at the bottom of sand hills, then it would be unable to get up the necessary speed and would be caught. For that reason its choose to build its nest at the tops of the hills. That it should take such a precaution as to build its nest on a hill, without having come across an enemy, is a conscious piece of behavior. Without doubt it was God Who inspired it to do this. God creates without any preceding example, and He is aware of all creation.