Museum of Natural History debuts creepy-crawling 'Spiders Alive!' exhibit

23. Funnel-web_RM.jpgView full size"Funnel-web wolf spider." This spider spins a sheet-like web attached to a narrow tube, or funnel. Sitting at the mouth of the tube, the spider waits to strike after feeling vibrations of prey crossing the web.

Exploring the complex secret world of one of the most versatile animals on the planet.

Where: American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th St., Manhattan; 212-769-5100
When: 10 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. daily through Dec. 2.
How much: Admission is $25, general; $19, seniors/students; $14.50, children 2-12.
More information: Visit for details about this and other exhibits.

A little fear invigorates "Spiders Alive!" at the American Museum of Natural History, a show that attempts (with some success) to dilute the dread that so often accompanies the sight of spiders.

Of course, literature has it all ways. Something like "Charlotte's Web" rehabilitates the animal for some readers. But, consider She-lob in "The Lord of the Rings." That voracious would-be hobbit-eater is big as a bear and twice as mean.

Late in her career, artist Louise Bourgeois produced a series of giant, long-legged bronze spider sculptures that went up in several places in Manhattan. The artist, always an original thinker, said she thought of spiders as fierce maternal stand-ins. One of her smaller mama-spiders lies in wait at the entrance to this show.

"Spiders Alive!" signage throughout the darkened, medium-sized exhibition space promotes calm: "So...let go of your preconceptions and have no fear," one introductory panel reads. "Welcome to the secret world of spiders."

16. Mexican red knee_RM.jpgView full size"Mexican red knee (Brachypelma smithi)" This stunning tarantula, which lives mainly on the Pacific coast of Mexico, resides in burrows, hurrying out to prey on insects, small frogs, lizards, and mice.
Unfavorable preconceptions involve the idea that spiders are as interested in us as we are spooked by them. They aren't. They'd rather be left alone, to consume extravagant amounts of insects undisturbed.

By one estimate, the hungry spiders residing in a single, acre of woodland devour more than 80 lbs. of insects in a year. Without spiders, bugs would overwhelm the world.

The other nice thing that some spiders do is produce lovely, regular webs, which they may re-weave every 24 hours or so.

"Spiders Alive" consists of text panels, videos and diagrams, a 150-times-life-size model (actually a play sculpture), a robot prototype, 20 live specimens in attractive terrariums and a 100 million-year-old fossil.

Spiders, in turns out, are not durable as they seem. Their bodies are relatively soft. They don't fossilize easily and fossils are rare.

Overhead, in the show, there's the kind of spider people only see in their worst nightmares: A 40-footer. It's a model of a golden orb-web spider. It's meant to serve as a template since it possesses standard physical attributes: Eight eyes, four pairs of legs, a narrow "waist," and feelers "for touching, tasting and handling prey."

Spiders share characteristics, naturally. All produce silk (although not all spin webs) and all deploy venom. But relatively few produce venom that represents a problem for human beings. Scorpions, close relatives of spiders, are another story.

The silk is very strong for it's weight and spiders produce different grades, depending on the use. Webs require a different gauge than that which a would use to bind and truss its dinner.

The biggest are big enough to catch and eat small mammals and birds. The smallest aren't much larger than the period at the end of this sentence. Most are fairly solitary, although there are socially-minded types.

1. Spider 1, 1995_AF.jpgView full size"Spider 1, 1995" a sculpture by Louise Bourgeois. Bronze, dark and "polished patina, wall piece. This striking spider sculpture was created by the late French-born American artist Louise Bourgeois. Famous for her renderings of arachnid forms, the artist evoked her beloved mother -- a weaver -- who was "deliberate, clever, patient, soothing, reasonable, dainty, subtle, indispensable, neat, and as useful as a spider."
Experts have identified 43,000 species so far. They believe another 43,000 are undocumented and out there, awaiting discovery.

Like the museum's previous "Live!" shows (in which visitors cozied up to lizards, frogs and snakes), the arachno-exhibit features live "explainers," well-coached docents who encourage viewers to deepen the acquaintance and demonstrators.

The titan among the live specimens is the Goliath Bird Eater, a beautiful monster whose name says it all. This spider will also devour snakes, mice and frogs.

Among the other lives specimens, there are scorpions (close spider relatives) and a black widow, an elegant presence that has a red hour glass mark on its underside. Like some other species, black widows are apt to devour their husbands immediately following the wedding night.

For people, the venom is "harmful" according to "Spiders Alive!" but hardly fatal. (Incidentally, they are known to live on Staten Island, but more on that later).

Despite rumors to the contrary, another harmful spider, the warm-weather-loving brown recluse, is not found this far north. This spider's belly-mark looks like a violin. A bite can destroy tissue, leaving a deep wound. Nausea and fever are reported as well.

Unlike insects, spiders don't taste good. Among their few predators are wasps and some varieties of ant.

Naturally, very close encounters, as in the wildly popular Butterfly Conservatory (reopening Oct. 6) between museum visitors, aren't possible. It's just as well.

14. Brown recluse_RM.jpgView full size"Brown recluse (Loxosceles reclusa)" This spider is identified by a dark, violin-shaped mark on its head. Its venom can cause a deep wound in humans that takes weeks or even months to heal and can produce symptoms such as nausea and a fever.

In backyards these days — New Brighton or Travis, Tottenville or Meiers Corners — does it seem as if there more spiders than usual?

Blame it on the hot medium-dry summer, which hasn't been rainy enough to "wash the spiders out."

Simultaneously, insects seem to be thriving — and they represent dinner for mostspiders. The bigger the bug buffet, the more spiders you're liable to see.

In any case, the Staten Island Museum's in-house naturalist Ed Johnson has noticed much web-weaving in his Westerleigh backyard this summer.

Johnson, who presides over the museum's huge natural-history collections, figures the borough is home to hundreds, if not thousands, of species of spiders. "It's hard to say how many," he said last week.

The museum has hundreds of thousands of preserved insect specimens (and one of the world's largest and most complete collections of cicadas), but it doesn't have a spider collection.

Spiders, which are not in the insect family, have to be preserved in fluid. "It's a big undertaking," Johnson said.

(The Museum of Natural History has the world's largest spider collection, with more than a million specimens. It is currently directing the largest spider research project to date, with 45 investigators in 12 countries, collaborating vis an online data base.)

Only one Island spider represents any kind of threat: The aforementioned black widow, an elegant goth presence among spiders. Love is a matter of life or death for widows. Like some other spiders, the females eat their mates.

Black widows have potent — but not human-life-threatening — venom. Still, they're not aggressive. Like most spiders they'd rather flee than fight. They frequent out-of-the-way, dark places.

They're old school. "They like outhouses," Johnson said. "It's kind of chilling."

The other North American spider that is famous for its bite, the brown recluse, is not found as far north as Staten Island.

Indoors, the Johnson household is hardly spider free. The naturalist's wife, Leslie, keeps a monstrous Red-Kneed Tarantula — a fearsome-looking but non-deadly critter.

"I don't like handling it," Johnson admitted.