As a mother spider is attacked by another spider, her babies explode off her back and flee. Unfortunately they're all stuck in a container together, so this little spider story ends in tragedy and a whole lot of dead babies.
Filmed by YouTuber Mathew Duncan earlier this month, this video shows a violent battle between a mother wolf spider and an unidentified rival. When the mother wolf spider is attacked inside a container, the 20 or so babies that were huddled across her back flee for safety as she's taken down. Unfortunately for the babies, the story doesn't end very well for them either, as Duncan explained to Jonathan Kearney at The Mirror:
"I had caught both spiders in my house… Had no idea one had tonnes of babies on its back. So I'm glad I caught it and fed it to the other one before I had 20-30 spiders disperse within my home. I wish I had also filmed the spider munching all the babies too."
When a female wolf spider lays her eggs, she'll build a silken egg sac to keep them safe, and carry it around on her back. This large sac is anchored to her body using strong silk threads produced by the spinneret located at the end of her abdomen. When the eggs hatch, the babies will remain on their mother's back until they're ready to fend for themselves. This kind of parental care is pretty rare among spiders.
Here's a mother wolf spider carrying so many tiny babies:
Image: kurt_G/Shutterstock
Source: The Mirror