Dept. of Zoology
The newest resident of Scooter Sound Studio, a jumping spider:
It was cool how when I went to look at the little guy, he actually looked back at me and waved a front leg in my direction. Jumping spiders are visual hunters, with color vision that rivals humans' and birds' of prey and they've got a pair of big eyes right out in front.
My spider is about as big as my thumbnail and is hanging out on my windowsill.
Jumping spider info.
These are my favorite spiders. When you have attracted their attention, they follow you with their big eyes. They are friendly little creatures that always like to jump on your camera or your fingers.
Their large eyes give them excellent eyesight. As most spiders they also have four pairs of eyes. Two large ones in de middle and two small ones are looking forward. Above the front row is a second row of two tiny eyes and behind these there is a set of two large eyes looking upward. All these eyes give them a 360-degree eyesight. Spiders have singular eyes like mammals, unlike the insects that have compound eyes. The eyes can move out or inwards for focusing and they can turn up and down and left and right. The spider can also turn its carapace (breast) more than 45 degrees to look around.
Prey can be noticed from a distance of about 30 - 40 cm. At a distance of 20 cm the spider turns its body so that the two front eyes points to the insect. The muscles in the eye focus the eye on the prey and the eye moves around their optical axis. In this way the spiders scans the object like a modern scanner. The effect is extraordinary. The eyesight is enhanced like a zoom lens and it is capable to adjust its looking angle from 10 to 60 degrees. In experiments it was shown that the spider is capable to distinct dangerous insects and prey. The eyes are also capable to see color. After the object is recognized as eatable the spider carefully moves towards its victim.
 I like how its abdomen looks like a smiling human face. It reminds me of the "samurai face" crabs of Japan that have a shell that looks like the face of a man.
2:05:53 PM 
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