摘要：Spiders are excellent models for studies of comparative cognition and the evolution of mind and brain.Spider species live in diver
Spiders Are Smart, Not Scary
蜘蛛很聪明，但并不可怕
Even with very little brains, spiders can accomplish big cognitive feats.
即使蜘蛛的大脑很小，它也能完成巨大的认知壮举。
Posted October 26, 2025 | Reviewed by Gary Drevitch
发布于2025 年 10 月 26 日 | 加里·德雷维奇 (Gary Drevitch) 审阅
Spiders are excellent models for studies of comparative cognition and the evolution of mind and brain.Spider species live in diverse habitats and differ in size, sensory abilities, and foraging ecology.Spiders exhibit behaviors like learning, problem-solving, counting, and the ability to plan ahead.
蜘蛛是研究比较认知和心智与大脑进化的优秀模型。蜘蛛种类繁多，栖息地各异，大小、感知能力和觅食生态也各有不同。蜘蛛表现出学习、解决问题、计数和提前计划的能力等行为。
This time of year, spiders receive a lot of attention for their creepier qualities. But Ximena Nelson, a biologist at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, appreciates spiders year-round for a different reason: their brains.
每年这个时候，蜘蛛都会因其令人毛骨悚然的特质而备受关注。但新西兰坎特伯雷大学的生物学家西梅娜·尼尔森却因为另一个原因而一年四季都欣赏蜘蛛：它们的大脑。
Research over the last three decades has begun to reveal the diversity and complexity of spider behavior. In addition to complex communication and signaling behavior, spiders demonstrate learning and reversal learning, significant problem-solving ability, and possibly even the ability to count.
过去三十年的研究开始揭示蜘蛛行为的多样性和复杂性。除了复杂的交流和信号传递行为外，蜘蛛还表现出学习和逆向学习的能力、强大的解决问题能力，甚至可能还有计数的能力。
Nelson, author of the 2024 book The Lives of Spiders, reports that there are more than 52,000 species of spiders in the world, and believes they are worth getting to know better. I talked with her about studying spider smarts in the lab and what she wants people to know about these often-misunderstood arachnids.
纳尔逊是2024年出版的《蜘蛛的生活》一书的作者，她指出，世界上有超过52000种蜘蛛，并认为它们值得我们进一步了解。我与她探讨了在实验室中研究蜘蛛的智慧，以及她希望人们了解这些经常被误解的蛛形纲动物。
Q: What do spider species have in common, and in what ways do they differ?
问：各蜘蛛种类有哪些共同点？又有哪些不同点？
Nelson: Let’s start with what they've got in common because it's a much shorter list. Spiders are all similar in that they're related, and they have two body parts and eight legs.
纳尔逊：我们先从它们的共同点说起，因为这个清单比较短。蜘蛛的相似之处在于它们之间都有亲缘关系，而且它们都有两个身体部位和八条腿。
Spiders are different in a variety of ways: the number of eyes they have, their reliance on different sensory systems, their modes of respiration, their use of webs. The list just goes on and on.
蜘蛛在很多方面都存在差异：它们的眼睛数量不同，对感官系统的依赖程度不同，呼吸方式不同，以及对蛛网的使用方式不同。诸如此类，不胜枚举。
Q: Why study spider cognition? What kinds of questions can you investigate using spiders?
问：为什么要研究蜘蛛的认知？利用蜘蛛可以研究哪些问题？
Nelson: Some spiders show behaviors that in mammals, we would describe as cognitive behaviors. We might have a bit more trouble using the word cognitive for an animal that is the size of your fingernail. Their brains can be tiny — in jumping spiders, the brain is the size of a poppy seed. And yet they can do these amazing behavioral feats.
纳尔逊：有些蜘蛛表现出哺乳动物中我们称之为认知行为的行为。对于指甲盖大小的动物来说，我们可能不太容易用“认知”这个词来形容它们。它们的大脑可能很小——跳蛛的大脑只有罂粟籽那么大。然而，它们却能做出这些令人惊叹的行为壮举。
One of the most interesting things is that a baby jumping spider hatches fully formed. They are hunting spiders, so they search for their prey like little, tiny leopards. When they come out of the egg sac, they're after very tiny prey, because they're only about a millimeter at that stage, yet they're able to actively hunt using vision and pounce on their prey. You can hardly see the entire spiderling with the naked eye, let alone their brain. So how is it processing all that information? The brain of the young spider is so much smaller than that of the adult. They have fewer neurons, so they must be really efficient in what they do with those neurons.
最有趣的事情之一是，跳蛛幼崽孵化后会完全发育。它们是猎蛛，所以它们像小豹子一样搜寻猎物。当它们从卵囊中出来时，它们会捕食非常小的猎物，因为那时它们的体长只有一毫米左右，但它们能够利用视觉主动捕猎并扑向猎物。你几乎无法用肉眼看到整个幼蛛，更不用说它们的大脑了。那么，它是如何处理所有这些信息的呢？幼蛛的大脑比成年蜘蛛的大脑小得多。它们的神经元更少，所以它们在处理这些神经元时一定非常高效。
In the same individual, we could measure how behaviorally complex they are when they emerge as a spiderling, rear them in the lab, and then measure them again as adults to see how much difference there is in terms of their flexibility or their ability to learn.
对于同一个体，我们可以测量它们在幼蛛时期的行为复杂程度，在实验室中饲养它们，然后在成年后再次测量它们，看看它们的灵活性或学习能力有多大差异。
You could also measure between species. There are massive size differences among different species of spiders. In fact, between male and female spiders in some species, the female is a good 10 times bigger than the male.
你也可以测量不同物种之间的差异。不同种类的蜘蛛体型差异巨大。事实上，在某些物种中，雌性和雄性蜘蛛的体型差异甚至高达10倍。
There are all sorts of questions you can ask related to neural volume or brain size, and comparisons that you can make within individuals, within species, between species in the same group, or between species in different groups.
您可以提出各种与神经体积或大脑大小相关的问题，并且可以在个体内、物种内、同一组物种之间或不同组物种之间进行比较。
Q: There is some research suggesting that spiders have the ability to plan ahead. What is the evidence for this?
问：有研究表明蜘蛛具有提前计划的能力。这方面的证据是什么？
Nelson: My former advisor did some experiments in the late 1990s with Portia — which is like the Einstein of jumping spiders. Portia was able to see something at a distance, lose sight of the prey, and then approach it from behind, suggesting planning behavior. I've seen this in the field and I've seen it in the lab, and it certainly looks like planning. But it’s difficult to test. We're currently running some experiments, but I don't have the data yet.
纳尔逊：我的前导师在20世纪90年代末用波西亚做过一些实验——它就像跳蛛界的爱因斯坦。波西亚能够看到远处的东西，然后失去猎物的踪迹，再从猎物后面接近，这表明它有计划行为。我在野外和实验室里都见过这种现象，它看起来确实像是在进行计划。但很难测试。我们目前正在进行一些实验，但我还没有数据。
Previously, I’ve run experiments using a water maze. Jumping spiders don't like water at all. I put them on an island in an arena surrounded by water with four ways to exit. They have to jump onto smaller islands to get out, essentially. The four exits differ in the number of jumps and how risky those jumps are. There is one safe option and three risky options. But the key difference in this experiment is that the first jump is the same for all four exits, and it's a big, risky jump. If they choose the safe option more than 25% of the time, that suggests that they assessed all four options and opted for the safe option. And we found evidence that they do plan ahead in that scenario.
之前，我做过水迷宫实验。跳蛛根本不喜欢水。我把它们放在一个被水包围的竞技场中的岛上，那里有四个出口。它们基本上必须跳到更小的岛上才能出来。四个出口在跳跃次数和风险程度上有所不同。一个安全选项和三个风险选项。但这个实验的关键区别在于，四个出口的第一次跳跃都是一样的，而且是一次巨大且风险很大的跳跃。如果它们选择安全选项的概率超过25%，那就表明它们评估了所有四个选项，最终选择了安全选项。我们发现证据表明，它们在这种情况下确实会提前计划。
Q: Do spiders show individual differences in cognition?
问：蜘蛛在认知方面是否存在个体差异？
Nelson: There are definitely differences. Some spiders are, well, pathologically stupid, I'm tempted to say, and some are really clever and motivated. With jumping spiders, we tend to use females because the males as a group are just not motivated for cognitive experiments. I'm sure that they'd be great for sexual selection studies, but for cognition studies, they are just no good at all.
纳尔逊：肯定是有区别的。有些蜘蛛，嗯，我忍不住想说，蠢得像病态，而有些则非常聪明，而且很有动力。对于跳蛛，我们倾向于使用雌性，因为雄性作为一个群体，对认知实验缺乏动力。我确信它们在性选择研究方面很出色，但对于认知研究来说，它们根本没用。
We expect there to be variation in ability and behavioral traits between individuals, and we do see consistent individual differences. With some spiders, I have to say, I’m not testing you, I've given up on you, I'm just going to take you back to the field.
我们预期个体间的能力和行为特征会存在差异，但我们确实观察到了一致的个体差异。对于某些蜘蛛，我不得不说，我不是在考验你，我已经放弃了你，我只是想把你带回野外。
Q: How do spiders demonstrate behavioral flexibility or learning, even in the context of innate behaviors?
问：即使在先天行为的背景下，蜘蛛如何表现出行为灵活性或学习能力？
Nelson: Spiders in general have a lot of innate behaviors. Jumping spiders are innately capable of executing the correct sequence of behaviors to hunt their prey. Web building spiders are innately capable of building their webs. But all spiders learn: The web gets better and the hunting gets better as they practice. So even innate behaviors can improve with experience.
纳尔逊：蜘蛛通常有很多先天行为。跳蛛天生就能按照正确的顺序捕猎。结网蜘蛛天生就能结网。但所有蜘蛛都会学习：随着练习，蛛网会越来越好，捕猎技巧也会越来越好。所以，即使是先天行为，也能随着经验的积累而提高。
The interesting thing is that web-building spiderlings create very tiny webs that are exactly the same pattern as the larger webs they build as adults. Those spiders must perform a lot of fine motor skills, requiring a lot of coordination with eight legs. And they've got to do the correct sequence of what type of silk to put where because they use different types of silk for different parts of the web. It's thousands and thousands of steps. Yet the spiderling can do that. It really shows how much complexity can be encoded in innate behavior.
有趣的是，织网的幼蛛所织的网非常小，其图案与成年后织的大网完全相同。这些蜘蛛必须具备许多精细的运动技能，需要八条腿的协调配合。它们必须按照正确的顺序，确定将哪种丝放在哪个位置，因为它们会在网的不同部分使用不同类型的丝。这需要成千上万个步骤。然而，幼蛛却能做到。这充分表明，先天行为中蕴含着多么复杂的信息。
But if I were to snip a little strand, the spider or spiderling would detect that immediately and fix it. It would be able to repair its web because it detects that there's a problem. So there is flexibility, as well.
但如果我剪掉一小段线，蜘蛛或幼蛛就能立刻察觉并修复。它能够修复自己的网，因为它察觉到了问题。所以，这种做法也具有灵活性。
Q: What kinds of questions about spider cognition remain?
问：关于蜘蛛认知还有哪些问题？
Nelson: There's a lot of interesting work that could be done with comparative approaches. For example, most spiders are generalist predators. But some are specialists and hunt dangerous prey like other spiders or ants, both of which can kill. They need quite specific predatory behaviors to be able to hunt that prey. The jumping spider Portia fimbriata, for instance, hunts other jumping spiders—prey with very good vision that can see Portia coming—and so it's very tricky in how it hunts. You could look at closely related species that have different hunting techniques and see whether the specialists are trickier than the generalists.
纳尔逊：通过比较方法，可以开展许多有趣的研究。例如，大多数蜘蛛是泛型捕食者。但也有一些蜘蛛是专性捕食者，会捕食危险的猎物，比如其他蜘蛛或蚂蚁，而这两种蜘蛛和蚂蚁都具有致命的杀伤力。它们需要非常特殊的捕食行为才能捕食猎物。例如，跳蛛（Portia fimbriata）会捕食其他跳蛛——这些猎物视力极佳，能够预见到Portia的到来——因此它们的捕猎方式非常棘手。你可以观察一些具有不同捕猎技巧的近亲物种，看看专性捕食者是否比泛型捕食者更狡猾。
You could also potentially rear spiders in the lab and then break up the sibling groups and raise some with a lot of habitat enrichment and others in a basic habitat or provide one group with access to really nutritious prey and others access to non-nutritious prey. You could do this within a species, but then across species, as well. There is so much that you could study in terms of the role of experience in shaping cognition, as well as the role of genes because you can look at siblings. It's not something you can do with a herd of elephants.
你也可以在实验室里饲养蜘蛛，然后把它们的兄弟姐妹分开，让一些蜘蛛在丰富的栖息地中饲养，另一些则在普通的栖息地中饲养，或者让其中一组蜘蛛接触营养丰富的猎物，而让其他蜘蛛接触非营养的猎物。你可以在一个物种内这样做，也可以跨物种这样做。关于经验在塑造认知方面的作用，以及基因的作用，有很多可以研究的地方，因为你可以观察它们的兄弟姐妹。但你无法对一群大象这样做。
Q: What do you wish people knew about spiders?
问：您希望人们了解蜘蛛的哪些方面？
Nelson: If you ever encounter a spider, they're much more afraid of you than you are of them. I mean, consider the size difference for a start. Pause and think rather than immediately blaming the spider or fearing the spider, because the spider's scared of you.
纳尔逊：如果你遇到一只蜘蛛，它们会比你更怕你。我的意思是，首先要考虑一下体型差异。停下来思考一下，而不是因为蜘蛛怕你而立即责怪它或害怕它。
Also, spiders get unfairly blamed for a lot of bites. Unless you actually see the spider bite you and you've collected it, chances are it was something else, like a scratch or a mite, tick, or mosquito. Most spiders can't even pierce human skin.
此外，蜘蛛咬伤也常常被不公平地归咎于人。除非你亲眼看到蜘蛛咬你，并且已经感染了病毒，否则很可能是其他原因造成的，比如抓伤、螨虫、蜱虫或蚊子。大多数蜘蛛甚至无法刺穿人类的皮肤。
And if you did get bitten by a spider, it was likely a defensive bite because you rolled over on it or you put your foot on its house. So suddenly it's getting squashed and it's going to defend itself the only way it can.
如果你真的被蜘蛛咬了，那很可能是出于防御性原因，因为你翻身压在了它身上，或者把脚踩到了它的窝。所以它会突然被压扁，只能用它唯一能做的自卫方式。
Q: What has been your favorite spider species to work with?
问：您最喜欢研究哪种蜘蛛？
Nelson: One that I most enjoyed working with was a jumping spider called Servaea incana that lives under the bark of a specific species of eucalyptus tree in eastern Australia. It was just like a little tank, and very chilled out and easy to work with. It was motivated to complete experiments and just generally a nice, mellow spider.
纳尔逊：我最喜欢的实验对象是一只名叫Servaea incana的跳蛛，它生活在澳大利亚东部一种特殊的桉树树皮下。它就像一个小坦克，非常冷静，很容易操作。它有完成实验的动力，总的来说，是一只温和、温顺的蜘蛛。
The other one that comes to mind is an ant-eating specialist I used to work with called Chalcotropis. It is big, about 13 millimeters, which is huge for a jumping spider, and almost as wide as it is long. So it really was like a tank with little, short legs. I think I like my chunky spiders!
我想到的另一个是我以前合作过的一种食蚁兽，名叫Chalcotropis。它体型巨大，大约13毫米，对于跳蛛来说已经很大了，而且宽度几乎和长度一样长。所以它真的就像一个长着小短腿的坦克。我想我喜欢我这种粗壮的蜘蛛！
来源：左右图史