Daddy longlegs drop their limbs to escape predators

Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/08/23/daddy-longlegs-drop-their-limb.html

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Never mind daddy longlegs’s legs, what became of the kid?

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Tis but a scratch !

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image

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It’s all fun and games until it gets a laser cannon

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I came to this conclusion as a child, having spent hours watching various insects going about their business in my mother’s garden, and noticing how often daddy longlegs were missing limbs.

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A lot of spiders (which the daddy longlegs is not) will actually self-amputate limbs if they have been grabbed by an assassin bug, in hopes of stopping the bug’s fast acting neuro-toxin from reaching their body.

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So is that why they’re a symbol of hope?

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You were a remarkably observant kid!

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