That combination of visual and vibratory stimuli means the male is effectively stepping into the lion’s den dressed as a steak and screaming, ‘Eat me!’ It’s a sure-fire way to get noticed, but this reckless strategy needs to be followed pretty sharply with one that stops the female from acting on her predatory impulse, otherwise the courtship’s going to be very short. ‘The fact is that spiders are predators. And so one of the best ways to draw attention is to basically trigger those things that are going to make a predator turn around and look for food. But then very quickly after that you
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