Benefits of Spiders in the Environment and the Ecosystem

The Fear Factor and Their Importance

Many people are afraid of spiders because they look scarier than they actually are. Over 30% of people in the United States alone has a fear of spiders. What many don't realize is that spiders have an important role to play in the food chain. According to Business Insider, "Spiders eat about 400 to 800 million tons of insects every year. Spiders' roles are that important that if we did not have them in our world, we would all be engulfed in a plague of disease spreading, crop destroying insects.

Benefits of Spiders

Spiders are much more useful than people make them seem. Their venom used to kill their prey can be helpful in people with muscle dystrophy. This is because there are special proteins in spider venom. The proteins found in spider venom can be used to make pain killers. Now that scientists have figured out to make these pain killers, they are trying to use yeast to multiply it for later uses that can help benefit society.

Everyone Has Some Type of Fear of Spiders

In an interview with Dr. Robert Raven, a man who studies spiders for a living and has helped discover over 50 species in Australia, he admits that he has some fear of spiders. He explains that his father who was a miner used to take him into the mines where spiders would drop from the ceiling. This just shows that anyone can have a fear, and that we don't have to be afraid of them.