Do Spiders have a Spider Sense Like Spider-Man?

Feb 4

Spider-Man has plenty of cool powers but so many of them are shared by other superheroes. Super strength? Superman, Supergirl, The Hulk, She-Hulk, Wonder Woman, etcetera, etcetera. Super Speed? Flash does it better. Super healing that extends his lifespan? Wolverine would be at Spider-Man’s funeral still looking healthy.

But one of Spider-Man’s most unique abilities is his spider-sense. Spider sense gives him what appears to be precognition to some kind of danger.

Related Article: How Long Could Wolverine Live?

Spider-Man spider sense — “I call it my ‘shits about to go down’ sense.”

In some adaptations, it’s like an instinctual response to oncoming danger allowing Spider-Man to avoid attacks before he is even aware of it. Other adaptations make it more of a warning but either way, it’s pretty cool and, according to his theme song, Spider-Man can do everything a spider can, so does that mean spiders have a spider sense too?

Well, sort of. Spiders actually have some pretty impressive fine hairs that are vibration-sensitive allowing them to detect moving objects around them. These hairs are called trichobothria and can move in the direction of an object letting the spider know where an object is coming from.

You’re probably thinking “as long as I don’t make vibrations the spiders won’t get me.” and sure but it’s extremely difficult to not make vibrations. Also, spiders aren’t out to get you… most of the time.

See, you make vibrations just by yelling, talking, moving around, and even breathing since sound waves count as vibrations. The moment you make a sound you’ve created a sound wave that travels through the air. This alerts the spider that something really big is nearby and it should get out of the way.

I say ‘get out of the way’ because spiders don’t want anything to do with you, they’re only looking for prey and mates. And I don’t mean the British version of mates.

So do spiders have a spider sense like Spider-Man? Not exactly since it’s based on vibrations and not a precognitive type of ability and that’s still pretty cool.

Also, spiders aren’t all that terrifying, just look at this adorable one:

Quick Facts

Your common house spiders are near-sighted and have poor eyesight which means Peter Parker should be keeping his glasses, not getting rid of them.
You might have heard the myth that you swallow 8 spiders in your sleep but that’s not true at all, your snoring and breathing prevent spiders from even approaching you. If they do crawl on you it’s definitely not going to be near your face on purpose.