Spiders are getting SMARTER: Shock as arachnids evolve faster to 'catch up' with humans
SPIDERS have grown to record sizes this autumn and now researchers fear they are also getting SMARTER.
With the sudden arrival of cold weather, MILLIONS of spiders are desperately scurrying into UK homes.
And now it seems the beasts, which have grown to record sizes this year after a hot dry summer, are ADAPTING to the threat of humans and even LEARNING how to avoid being captured and killed.
They are also getting FASTER AND more VICIOUS as they are forced to adapt to rapid environmental change.
There are already some extraordinary examples of spiders learning the video below shows a pet spider PLOTTING to open its glass cage and it can be seen sliding open its door to escape.
Experts believe that the increased pressure to adapt to environmental changes and the urbanisation of the planet means some spiders and other insects are in a period of 'accelerated evolution' - and are getting smarter QUICKER than humans.
This is not unheard of in nature Cambridge University natural sciences graduate, Katy Horder, said: "Looking at past events can often be useful in predicting the future, and it appears that an increase in temperature 50 million years ago resulted in a great diversification due to an increased rate of evolution in insects and bats.
"This is in fact thought to be the point at which several types of bat evolved aviation and sonar abilities to seek out their newly evolved insect prey."
A University of Leeds study recently shattered the belief that evolution can only occur gradually over hundreds or thousands of years.
Researchers studied soil mites and discovered that - because of changes to their environment - they began to compete in dramatically different ways, radically propelling the speed of their evolution.
The study found huge changes could occur in just 15 generations.
Terrifyingly, most spiders only live for ONE year, meaning genes are passed on far more rapidly than in humans and hugely increasing the shock impact of accelerated evolution.
Professor Tim Benton, of the University of Leeds' Faculty of Biological Sciences, said: "Short-term ecological change and evolution are completely intertwined and cannot reasonably be considered separate.
"We found that populations evolve rapidly in response to environmental change and population management. This can have major consequences."
Lead author Dr Tom Cameron added: "We saw significant evolutionary changes relatively quickly.
"The age of maturity of the mites in our study doubled over about 15 generations, because they were competing in a different way than they would in the wild."
With more and more homes being built in the UK, spiders are being forced to set up camp in warm garages and houses another radical change to their natural environment.
And with the threat humans wanting to catch or kill them, they are being forced to adapt fast.
Urban spiders have grown to record sizes this year and faced with the bitter cold and lashing rain they are now scampering inside warm homes to breed.
Mark Bushell, invertebrate expert at Bristol Zoo, said: "At this time of year male house spiders come in looking for females as they can often be found in safe places such as houses or sheds.
Spiders like dark, unswept areas and are often found in rafters and under floorboards as well as lurking in airing cupboards, and under sofas, fabric chairs and beds.
