Spiders eat more people

Spiders: Quiet predators that eat more people.

According to a study published in The Science of Nature in 2017, spiders destroy between 400 and 800 million tons of prey, mostly insects, each year.

By comparison, humans consume about 400 million tons of meat and fish each year.

The scientists made the estimate based on data on the density of spider populations in different ecosystems, their diet, and the amount of prey the spiders eat over the course of a year.

The researchers used two approaches: one based on the average amount of prey consumed by spiders per unit of body mass.

The other was based on data on the total number of insects that spiders feed on in different regions.

These data were compiled from multiple field studies to provide an overview of the global impact of spiders on insect populations.