The filmmakers filmed the first unparalleled spine chilled footage of a young spider cannibalizing his mother and other elderly relatives.
In the video, more than 1,000 young African social spiders (Stegodyphus dumicola) creep out of their nest in search of their next meal. Young people appear to be playing an eerie game of “Statue” when they move.
The young spider attacks first, devouring insects sandwiched between giant webs holding their nests, tearing them apart while the insects are still alive. However, when this food source is gone, the spider becomes one of the web’s mothers.
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“The demands of parent-child relationships are finally at their expense,” British biologist and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough said in a narration for a clip from the BBC’s new five-part series called “parent-child relationships.”
Related: Starving Cannibal Spiders Don’t Hunt their Brothers, but they Quickly Die with Dead
But the dying spider mom has a trembling gift. Shaking, she waits for her offspring and her cousins to swell and cannibalize her. “She was the ultimate sacrifice and was born out of the need to ensure the survival of the next generation,” Attenborough says.
Scientists believe that African social spider moms are intentionally trembling while waiting for a horrifying death. Young spiders won’t hesitate to attack their moms, as the vibrations they create can be similar to vibrations created by insects caught in the web.
However, after eating the spider mom, the spider rings are still not bored. They moved to other surviving relatives, “Eating all the adults one at a time in the colony, and all the next generation remains,” Attenborough says.
According to The Guardian, this is the first time the clip has captured this stomach-shaking behavior. Attenborough was “happily and horrifying” when he saw the footage. Jeff Wilson, producer and director of “parent-child relationships,” told the newspaper.
“When you get away from it and away from the fear of it, it makes some sense,” Wilson said.
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