Tarantulas Feeding through Evolution??

verry_sweet

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 22, 2006
Messages
569
I’ve made my point regarding this post. Here is a spin off

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=98107

Switch of topic to ask a question I pulled out of my A$$. Not sure how to word this so kinda go with me on it and don’t hang on every word.

Dogs, cats and other meat eaters have K-nine teeth. Herbivores and so on have teeth designed to pulverize grasses, leaves and so on. Beavers have specialized teeth for wood. Which bark and food is part of their diet, Birds of prey beaks have been made for cleaning of feathers/fur and to tear flesh. Ok you get the point. Tarantulas have large fangs primarily to break through and penetrate an exoskeleton. They also have special enzymes that breakdown and digest the inside of an exoskeleton…. am I right? So by evolution they are primarily meant to eat insects with hard exoskeletons. Ok you guys go with it and tell me what you think.


Steph
 

Talkenlate04

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 13, 2006
Messages
8,655
They will eat things like lizards and birds, snakes, whatever. Wild Ts eat what homes into their areas. So long as they think they can take it down they try and eat it.
As far as the fang point you are trying to get at, Ts have not changed in a long long long time. Mainly because they are good at what they do already. They have not had to adjust much.
The fangs are used to secure whatever they chose to attack. It was already said once but they will kill whatever they can to live and survive in the wild. And that includes the cute and fuzzy critters. And anoles :rolleyes:
 

wonderfvl

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Jun 20, 2005
Messages
76
I feel that the Ts fangs are designed/evolved to penetrate a protective outer layer whether it's a exoskeleton or scales or skin. I believe that in the wild, the primary food source for the Ts are insects. I also feel that they would be opportunistic with new born, sick, or dying reptiles & mammals. However, I don't believe, that in the wild, Ts would take healthy reptiles or mammals.
 

Brando

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 18, 2005
Messages
178
Tarantulas have large fangs primarily to break through and penetrate an exoskeleton. They also have special enzymes that breakdown and digest the inside of an exoskeleton…. am I right? So by evolution they are primarily meant to eat insects with hard exoskeletons.
Why are the fangs primarily for penetrating an exoskeleton? They aren't for penetrating and injecting venom into anything else?

You could have phrased it the same way replacing it with skin or flesh if you favored invert pray.
 

Pociemon

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 25, 2007
Messages
911
Yes, and they even eat eachother, and some other predators they also eats, scorps has hard exoskeleton, though they also fall prey them also. But they are opportunistic eaters.
 

verry_sweet

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 22, 2006
Messages
569
Point I’m making if they were made to eat meat they would have evolved with ripping and tearing k nines as all other meat eaters.
 

sick4x4

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 3, 2006
Messages
1,774
I feel that the Ts fangs are designed/evolved to penetrate a protective outer layer whether it's a exoskeleton or scales or skin. I believe that in the wild, the primary food source for the Ts are insects. I also feel that they would be opportunistic with new born, sick, or dying reptiles & mammals. However, I don't believe, that in the wild, Ts would take healthy reptiles or mammals.
ok before i even formulate some sort of response to this just like talkenlate says ,"where is this info coming from?".....

i think a healthy t diet consists of more then one might think...which includes herps and other smaller animals(umm bird eaters)....much like certain pede's who have become specialized to capture bats...soo to say they dont make animals other then insects regular menu items??? is well not smart:wall:
 

Mushroom Spore

Arachnoemperor
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 14, 2005
Messages
4,588
Point I’m making if they were made to eat meat they would have evolved with ripping and tearing k nines as all other meat eaters.
If what they already have works on mammals, as it CLEARLY does, then no. They would not have magically evolved an entirely different method of ingesting amd digesting their food just because it makes more sense to you. ;) Nature doesn't waste time like that.
 

verry_sweet

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 22, 2006
Messages
569
much like certain pede's who have become specialized to capture bats...soo to say they dont make animals other then insects regular menu items??? is well not smart:wall:

Do these pedes only feed on bats…that could be an evolutionary change in the making.

I do not think you need to attack anybodies intelligence :embarrassed: just because they do not see things your way. This is nothing more than a “friendly” discussion :)
 

verry_sweet

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 22, 2006
Messages
569
If what they already have works on mammals, as it CLEARLY does, then no. They would not have magically evolved an entirely different method of ingesting amd digesting their food just because it makes more sense to you. ;) Nature doesn't waste time like that.

I suppose. We as humans have been eating meat but never gotten the true K nine teeth either.
 

phil jones

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 17, 2006
Messages
1,051
the ones with the big mouths on here will always shout you down i think you know who i mean ----- phil
 

sick4x4

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 3, 2006
Messages
1,774
Do these pedes only feed on bats…that could be an evolutionary change in the making.

I do not think you need to attack anybodies intelligence :embarrassed: just because they do not see things your way. This is nothing more than a “friendly” discussion :)
no ones attacking anyone's intelligence lol....please i'm one of those drunken daytime college students i hear so much about;P lol.....i just think when people base fact on ones feelings toward what is right isnt smart......
 

Drachenjager

Arachnoemperor
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 23, 2006
Messages
3,508
I feel that the Ts fangs are designed/evolved to penetrate a protective outer layer whether it's a exoskeleton or scales or skin. I believe that in the wild, the primary food source for the Ts are insects. I also feel that they would be opportunistic with new born, sick, or dying reptiles & mammals. However, I don't believe, that in the wild, Ts would take healthy reptiles or mammals.

Your beliefs are irrelevant. You see you can believe that The sky is down , but that dosent make it so. Tarantulas in the wild will eat what ever comes by its burrow.Be it an injured lizard, or a healty one. The only caveat is the T has to be able to overpower it. Health is not a factor. Actually , to eat only sick or dead animals takes a special "predator" , think buzzard. A hawk would probably get sick if it ate the things buzzards eat lol of course sometimes the hawk ate what the buzzard ate, just when it was a fresh kill lol
 

Drachenjager

Arachnoemperor
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 23, 2006
Messages
3,508
I’ve made my point regarding this post. Here is a spin off

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=98107

Switch of topic to ask a question I pulled out of my A$$. Not sure how to word this so kinda go with me on it and don’t hang on every word.

Dogs, cats and other meat eaters have K-nine teeth. Herbivores and so on have teeth designed to pulverize grasses, leaves and so on. Beavers have specialized teeth for wood. Which bark and food is part of their diet, Birds of prey beaks have been made for cleaning of feathers/fur and to tear flesh. Ok you get the point. Tarantulas have large fangs primarily to break through and penetrate an exoskeleton. They also have special enzymes that breakdown and digest the inside of an exoskeleton…. am I right? So by evolution they are primarily meant to eat insects with hard exoskeletons. Ok you guys go with it and tell me what you think.


Steph
You mean pit vipers are supposed to eat grasshopers? I mean if fangs are for penetrating exoskeletons snakes who sense the heat of mamals are at a serisous disadvantage if they are supposed to ead bugs ...
 

Drachenjager

Arachnoemperor
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 23, 2006
Messages
3,508
Point I’m making if they were made to eat meat they would have evolved with ripping and tearing k nines as all other meat eaters.
if they had teeth , i am sure they would. Rattle snakes have fangs, and dont have chewing ripping teeth. are they supposed to eat inverts? DARN IT didnt i already mention this lol
 

Drachenjager

Arachnoemperor
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 23, 2006
Messages
3,508
Do these pedes only feed on bats…that could be an evolutionary change in the making.

I do not think you need to attack anybodies intelligence :embarrassed: just because they do not see things your way. This is nothing more than a “friendly” discussion :)
Actually the pedes in queation eat about anythign they can get hold of , but do feed on bats too. and there is no need to "evolve" to eat only bats as they are quite able to do it now. Other pedes eat small mamals and reptiles in the wild anyway. However , sometimes the rodents turn the tabels on the pede.

And i agree, intelligence has little to do with this discussion...wel wait it does but ... you get the point. If you believe someting to be one way and its not its not that your intelligence is at fault, just your information. Thats the differance in ignorance and stupidity. Stupidity would be the lack of ability to learn, ignorance is the lack of information.
I am fully capable of learning many things however i am ignorant about many things as well, this dosent mean i am dumb , just uninformed.

You logic in this thread is based on compairing Mamalian or select reptilian biology to that of invertibrates. However , if you will look at the other reptiles you will see that thier fangs are NOT designed to penetrate exoskeletons, however they would be able to do that job as well if they chose to attack a grasshopper or roach.

i think if you want to ask what are a Ts fangs designed for, look at other fanged animals and see what they use them for. Most(other than inverts) use them for eating mamals .
 

verry_sweet

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 22, 2006
Messages
569
You mean pit vipers are supposed to eat grasshopers? I mean if fangs are for penetrating exoskeletons snakes who sense the heat of mamals are at a serisous disadvantage if they are supposed to ead bugs ...

Vipers have fangs that probably could break through a hard outer exoskeleton but after which it would not be able to make a meal of the insides of the insect. Arachnids can due to the different feeding style.
 
Top