New research led by the University of Portsmouth has unveiled that African social spiders—also known as “hippie spiders” for their cooperative living—may not have unique or distinct personalities at all. A study published in the journal Animal Behaviour has revealed that behavioral characteristics in social spiders fluctuate over time.
Animal personality is defined as the behavior that remains constant across time and situations. However, the findings suggest that commonly used methods for judging animal personality may not provide an accurate outlook regarding the social lives of these “hippie” spiders.
The behavior of Stegodyphus dumicola spiders (social “hippie” spiders) in response to internal factors, such as hunger levels, and external environmental factors varies significantly, rather than demonstrating a stable behavioral trait. While individual spiders exhibited stable behaviors over short periods, these patterns underwent significant changes over time. The initial behavior of the spiders didn’t shed light on the pattern of behavior in the future, which can vary significantly depending on the required role. In this study, researchers observed 28 social spider colonies every two weeks over a four-month period, taking note of three key behavioral features: prey capture speed in a group setting, and fight-or-flight responses when a threat was perceived.
Lead author Dr. Lena Grinsted, Senior Lecturer in Zoology at the University of Portsmouth’s School of Environment and Life Sciences, comments that the behavioral changes are so frequent in these spiders that it is misleading to consider the spiders have stable, individual personalities.
Previous research has led to the conclusion that social Stegodyphus spiders live in a social and cooperative, fair, and equal society, where individuals sacrifice themselves for the colony’s offspring and hunt and raise young together. While researchers in the past have established that individuals may take on specific roles, such as foragers or babysitters, this study suggests that spider roles are far more malleable and fluid than previously thought. Instead of fixed roles, spiders appear to adjust their behavior dynamically in response to the given circumstances.
According to Dr. Grinstead, it is tempting to assume that these social spiders have roles and a hierarchy in their society, like other social animals, such as bees and ants. However, it challenges that theory, instead showing a more equal and flexible system where roles change depending on the situation. “This challenges the idea that individual personalities drive evolutionary and ecological outcomes in this species, at least based on using traditional methods to assess personality in spiders.”, says Grinstead.
The paper also suggests longer studies to assess how social animals fulfill their roles within their society and whether these roles are actually fixed in other animals. According to scientists, judging these social spiders at first glance is as undesirable as judging a person at first impression.
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