March 14 is National Save a Spider Day, the perfect time to highlight the critical need to protect spiders, not fear them.
Dr. Paula E. Cushing, past president of both the American Arachnological Society and the International Society of Arachnology, has been joyfully studying spiders for decades. She says our fear of spiders is outsized: of the more than 53,000 species of spiders, approximately 100 species have venom that can badly hurt (or in rare cases, kill) humans.
Still, arachnophobia is often cited as the top phobia in the world. Dr. Cushing says learning about spiders and being exposed to them often greatly reduces people's fears.
Spiders are an important part of the ecosystem. They devour insects, including mosquitoes, and they also are food for birds, reptiles, small mammals, and other species. Habitat loss and pesticide use are among factors causing reductions in spider populations.
Dr. Cushing is senior curator of invertebrate zoology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science in Colorado.
Special thanks to the museum and Dr. Cushing for providing photographs for use in this episode.
Denver Museum of Nature & Science https://www.dmns.org/
American Arachnological Society https://www.americanarachnology.org/home/
International Society of Arachnology https://arachnology.org/home
Sandra Levine Productions https://sandralevine.com/

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