Spiders have 8 legs with 6 joints, that means they have 48 knees!! Spiders have claws at the end of their legs.

There are more than 40,000 species of spider

All types of spiders, except Uloboridae, are poisonous!

Males are usually smaller than females.

Spiders have fangs, through which venom is ejected. Their bites can be very painful and some can be fatal!

Webs get dirty and easily torn - new webs are often made every day! Old spider webs are rolled up and eaten! But not all spiders spin webs.

Spider silk is at least twice as strong as steel on an equal weight basis and the strongest material known. The silk is so strong, that it could stop a Boeing 747 dead in the air.

Arachnophobia is the term used for fear of spiders. Arachnophobia is one of the most common fears around the world.

Spiders eat all different types of harmful insects and pests.

The word spider come from an old English verb spinnan, this means "to spin".

Tarantula bites are rarely fatal. Some tarantula bites are like bee stings.

Some female species of spiders sacrifice their bodies as food for their offspring.

Fried spiders taste like nuts! Tarantulas taste like crab--and why not? They're relatives!

Spiders have been on the planet for around 350,000,000 years.

The most dangerous spider in the world is the Australian Funnel spider.

Spiders enemies are humans, weather, frogs, toads, lizards, birds, shrews, hunting beetles, ants, centipedes, parasitic flies, wasps, fungus and other spiders.

The largest spider in the world is the Giant Bird-eating spider. One that was found had a leg span of 28 cm (11 inches)!

The smallest spider is the Patu Marplesi. You could fit 10 of them on the end of a pencil.

As hard as scientists try, they cannot match or copy the silk.

The silk is the far more precious than silkworm silk. About 1.3 million egg sacs yields only 2 pounds of spider silk. A shirt made of spider silk would be priceless.

Tarantulas, trapdoor spiders and wolf spiders are not considered true spiders but are a relative called mygalomorphs. Mygalomorphs have 6 eyes instead of eight, are hairy (true spiders are hairless), have jaws that move vertically instead of diagonally, have two spinarets instead of 4 and the spinarets are visible unlike true spiders whose spinarets are microscopic. Mygalomorphs produce silk but do not build webs. Mygalomorphs live significantly longer than true spiders: true spiders live 1 to 2 years, trapdoor and wolf spiders can live up to 6 and tarantula males live 10 to 12 years while females live 20 to 25!

Spiders and mygalomorphs grow by molting.

If every spider on the planet disappeared at this moment, your house would be overrun by insects within a week