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1. kho (kho@shitposter.club)'s status on Friday, 21-Jul-2023 02:58:14 JST kho

   in reply to
   Jumping spider eyes are, in a word, incredible. The spiders, despite their tiny size, are better at seeing patterns than elephants are. Their pair of central eyes, known as the principle eyes, are almost like a pair of tiny binoculars: They have a large outer lens, then a smaller inner lens that magnifies the image from the outer lens and projects it onto the retina. The spiders are also unusual in that they have muscles attached directly to their retinas. That means they can move retinas up and down, side to side, focusing on different segments of the world without a hint of movement on the outside — a handy ability for a hunter. Meanwhile, the spiders' secondary pairs of eyes are less acute, but they provide crucial peripheral vision, Live Science previously reported.
   
   Most species of jumping spider can see ultraviolet light and blues and greens. Some species, though, have evolved special tricks to expand their color vision. These tend to be the flashier species, such as the paradise jumping spiders (genus Habbernatus), which are often decorated in shades of red and orange. In some species, a random genetic mutation has introduced an extra copy of the gene that makes the proteins that allow for blue/green vision. This extra copy has then acquired mutations capable of detecting red and orange. Similar mutations allowed primates to develop color vision.
   
   Jumping spiders can live up to their name. These spiders don't hunt by snaring prey in a web, but rather they stalk their quarry and then leap. Despite their tiny body size, jumping spiders can leap up to 6.3 inches (160 mm), according to a 2018 paper in the journal Scientific Reports. The spiders often spin a little silk and set a thread-like "anchor" before they leap, which may help stabilize their flight and protect them in case their landing is off. Jumping spiders most often jump to catch their prey, but sometimes leap to flee danger. They can also be quite clever: Researchers in the 2018 study actually trained a jumping spider (Phidippus regius) to leap from platform to platform.