Some Spiders Like Plant Food: Study

   Scientists discovered an unusual spider, which seems to set itself up for vegetarian, according to the study in the journal Current Biology.

Photo: Some Spiders Like Plant Food: Study

  Spiders, all over the world, are known to be hunters, luring prey into their sticky webs or ambushing them from behind a leaf. But field researchers have found that a jumping spider called Bagheera kiplingi actually prefers the leaf—or in this case, the leaf-tips produced by the acacia shrub. These tasty tips are usually eaten by ants that live on the plant and protect it from hungry herbivores. Or at least try to.

  The veggie-loving spiders, it seems, outwit the ants by making themselves scarce or by spinning silky droplines to give the ants the slip. They may also pull the old wolf-in-sheep’s clothing trick by cloaking themselves in the ants’ chemical scent, a possibility the scientists are trying to sniff out.

  For some of these spiders, acacia tips make up more than 90 % of their diet, according to the Scientific American's report.