“Her hungry spiderlings descend en masse to their mother’s dinner table… only this time, she is the main course”

Previously-unseen dietary habits of the African social spider have been filmed for the David Attenborough-narrated BBC series Parenthood – and it makes for gruesome viewing.

The series documents the lengths that animals will go to during the challenge of raising the next generation.

In Namibia, the African social spider lives with around 50 of her sisters and lays up to 50 eggs. Once the spiderlings begin to hatch, the mother feeds them with a milk-like substance made from her own disintegrating insides.

But now there are thousands of hungry spiderlings in need of prey – and their mother makes her final sacrifice.

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Top image: An African Social Spider mother sacrifices herself to her hungry and growing spiderlings in Namibia, from episode 1 of Parenthood. Credit: BBC/Silverback Films/Tharina Bird