From d8c720c1f0fddacfce5ed44a12b44a6de8d02556 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Halina Carandini Date: Tue, 5 Aug 2025 17:34:46 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] Add 'Can a Black Widow Spider Kill You?' --- Can-a-Black-Widow-Spider-Kill-You%3F.md | 3 +++ 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+) create mode 100644 Can-a-Black-Widow-Spider-Kill-You%3F.md diff --git a/Can-a-Black-Widow-Spider-Kill-You%3F.md b/Can-a-Black-Widow-Spider-Kill-You%3F.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d48bfef --- /dev/null +++ b/Can-a-Black-Widow-Spider-Kill-You%3F.md @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +
Black widow spiders are known for their potent venom, which is up to 15 times stronger than a rattlesnake's, but bites are rarely fatal to humans. These spiders prefer dark, dry places like wood piles, barns and basements, and are generally not aggressive unless disturbed. Female black widows are distinguished by their shiny black bodies and red hourglass markings, and they are more likely to bite than males. David Nelsen, an associate professor of biology at Southern Adventist University in Collegedale, Tennessee remembers sprawling on his belly under the slide at the elementary school playground, in search of the tangled web of the [Latrodectus](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?sel=site&searchPhrase=Latrodectus) hesperus, aka the western black widow spider. He'd know it when he saw it, the sticky silk threads spun in messy snarls characteristic of such wondrous creatures. If he nudged the web with his long forceps in just the right place, he could catch the spider before it escaped and tuck it into one of his plastic bags where dozens of other black widows lay in wait.
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It didn't matter that one bite from the shiny black spider could send his muscles into painful spasms within minutes \ No newline at end of file