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Can spiders jump in the UK?

By Russ 3 Comments

The Zebra Jumping Spider can often be found on walls where it hunts its prey. In Britain we are lucky to have a large variety of spiders to find and enjoy. Although most are known for sitting in a web and waiting for the fly to come to them, this is not always the case. Enter the Zebra Jumping Spider.

Jumping spiders are not uncommon in the North West – they can normally be spotted on warm rocks or brick walls. The most common species is about the size of a grain of rice and is covered in black and white stripes.

Using incredible vision, the spider can judge distance perfectly and pounce on prey even bigger than it is!It is aptly called the Zebra Jumping Spider. Rather than spinning webs to catch their prey, these hunters rely on two enormous front-facing eyes that give them excellent judging distance and strong back legs to leap on their prey from a distance.

They are the lions of the spider world and their hunting strategy has led them to become the most numerous spider family of them all, being found right across the planet as well as in our back gardens!

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Take care and remember, stay on the wild side!

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Filed Under: British Invertebrates, Urban Nature Tagged With: ambush, arachnid, can spiders jump in the UK?, eyesight, invertebrate, predator, spider, zebra jumping spider

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Pat says

    September 18, 2015 at 9:32 am

    Hello

    I was sitting in the lounge last night when a large spider jumped from the fireplace onto my chair. I don’t like spiders and was scared. It was a large spider with longs legs. I have had a look on line and I can’t see anything similar that is supposed
    to jump. Any ideas? Should I be worried?

    Thanks Pat

    P S I lie in Pembrokeshire

    Reply
    • Russ H says

      October 8, 2015 at 11:23 am

      Hi Pat, it depends on how big this spider was. Generally British spiders are nothing to worry about, despite their unpredictable movements. Did you get a picture of said spider?

      Reply
  2. Karen says

    February 23, 2021 at 1:38 am

    Just this minute I was lying on the couch in the dark watching TV when a dark object about the size of a large grain of rice glided across my line of vision and landed on the back of the couch headrest!
    I flicked it off so I don’t know exactly what it was!

    Reply

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