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Spiders Have Tiny Paws That Make Us Question Everything We've Ever Known

Updated September 8, 2021

Spiders and I have a truce. If they stay up near the ceilings or otherwise out of sight, I am happy to let them help with the pest population and thank them for their service. However, if they're closer to me-level, my ick instinct takes over and they will be dealt with before I go shower the mental itch away.

I've worked hard to conquer my general squeamishness about spiders — if there are more than eight legs, then all bets are off — so this seems like a good balance. They still creep me out, though.

I am, however, a lover of all things cute and furry — so learning that spiders have fuzzy paws is short circuiting my cute receptors.

If I didn't know that these images were spider paws, I'd totally believe they belonged to something with fewer legs.

But like... I know they're spider paws.

So my reaction is fritzing between "d'aww" and "OMG don't touch me!"

It probably doesn't help that any thread containing spider paw pics will also include photos of actual spiders.

It doesn't really make me feel better to know they aren't technically paws.

Unlike dogs or cats, spiders don't have paw pads or toebeans. Technically, their "paws" are actually "claw tufts".

Which is a combination of words that I find unsettling.

The super dense hair allows them to "stick" to smooth surfaces and climb walls or glass.

There's nothing actually sticky about the hair, rather the strands are so fine and tightly packed that adhesion occurs due to the "electrical attraction between molecules that are very close to each other".

Which is actually kind of neat.

I still don't want them crawling on me, though.

h/t: Cosmos