The spider is the most important predator of insects, thus controlling disease and a vital friend of gardeners and farmers.

It produces venom which dissolves its prey making it digestible.
Most toxins are not harmful to humans. In fact, they have the potential to replace opiates with their less addictive qualities.

The spider's food supply is captured through its web which is made of silk exuded by three pairs of spinnerets. The spider has leg hair designed, as many have poor eye-sight, to sense vibration when prey lands on the web. This is one reason the spider doesn't like areas with a lot of action or noise. The spider often sits waiting beside the web because it is generally not immune to the web's stickiness.

The spider is also an invaluable source of food to animals and birds, the latter being its top predator (bluebirds, wrens, sparrows, blackbirds, crows). And not just adult birds - the spider makes up 75% of food that great-tit parents bring back to their babies.

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