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Study: Spiders Eat Annually More than All Humans Put Together | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Matthew Mitchell was rushed to Gosford hospital after he was bitten on the finger by a funnel web. Photograph: Mark Baker/Reuters


London – All humans together consume an estimated 400 million tons of meat and fish annually, as reported by researches in Springer’s journal The Science of Nature.

The world’s spiders eat annually: between 400 and 800 million tons of insects, springtails, and other invertebrates, according to the findings of researchers from Switzerland, Sweden, and Germany.

Whales feed on 280 to 500 million tons of seafood, while the world’s total seabird population eats an estimated 70 million tons of fish and other seafood, stated the researchers.

Using data from 65 previous studies, and their own experiments, the researchers first affirmed the important role spiders play as wild predators in nature.

According to the researchers, spiders are not only important predators, but are also valuable sources of prey.

Between 8,000 and 10,000 other predators, parasitoids and parasites feed exclusively on spiders, while spiders at the same time form an important part of the diet of an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 bird species.