{"id":678260,"date":"2026-11-08T03:20:08","date_gmt":"2026-11-08T03:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/678260\/"},"modified":"2026-11-08T03:20:08","modified_gmt":"2026-11-08T03:20:08","slug":"it-hunts-like-a-cowboy-launching-a-long-sticky-lasso-to-snag-its-prey-then-reels-it-in-for-the-kill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/678260\/","title":{"rendered":"It hunts like a cowboy, launching a long sticky lasso to snag its prey \u2013\u00a0then reels it in for the kill"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The bolas spider is a type of orb-weaver spider found in warm temperate and tropical climates. It\u00a0is unusual because where most spiders hunt using their webs (which can also be considered a type of tool), this one creates a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC9780859\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">little spider lasso<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The lasso is a long line of silk with a small blob of glue, called a \u2018bolas\u2019, on the end. Female bolas spiders first attract a moth by releasing a cocktail of pheromones. Then, when the prey is in striking distance, the lasso is launched to snag it. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When the bolas makes contact with the moth, the glue soaks into its scales and the moth becomes stuck.\u00a0\u00a0The spider then reels it in and kills it with a venomous bite.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is a specialised method of hunting, that combines chemical and physical elements. The lasso itself isn\u2019t deadly, but it might as well be, as very few moths ever escape.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/snowed-spiders-in-brazil\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The day it snowed spiders in Brazil<\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/insects-invertebrates\/why-spiders-dont-get-stuck-in-their-own-webs\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Spiders weave sticky, deadly webs to trap prey, so how do they avoid getting stuck themselves?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The bolas spider is a type of orb-weaver spider found in warm temperate and tropical climates. It\u00a0is unusual&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":678261,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[61,60,82,263],"class_list":["post-678260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=678260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678260\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/678261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=678260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=678260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=678260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}