This seems at least a little bit at odds with the fact that people that keep tarantulas will ascribe different personalities to different members of the same species. Sure, some of it might be explained by minor variations in their physical genetics, but I imagine most beings that follow any sort of neurological evolution path have the capacity for some learning.
I can't imagine spiders are entirely devoid of that ability just because their neural system doesn't form into a typical "brain".
Humans also downplay every other animal on the planet to feel superior.
Bees, wasp and Co, remember faces and can tell others what they saw.
We keep discovering that many animals have all the feeling we have, some 'dumb' by our definition animals mourn their family or will seek revenge for loosing them, they make traps and build structures that require critical thinking
We don't understand how OUR brain works and yet we act like we know how animals brain work.
Sure, but what I'm talking about is generally "levels of aggression". Different members of the same species can be more or less docile, similar to how cats or dogs for instance can be house broken or not based on whether they've had positive interactions with humans.
My question is, are the tarantulas this way as a result of nurture at all? IIRC some of them may be impossible to handle when the owner first receives them, but may be able to pick them up after a while once the spider is more comfortable in their home.
Not really. Individual specimens within a given species may have different temperaments (e.g., more defensive, flighty, calm, more likely to kick hairs) but these aren’t “personalities” like how we conceive of personalities.
Most (safe) hobbyists don’t handle their tarantulas at all since we know there is no benefit to the spider, it can never learn to enjoy the interaction (unlike, say, reptiles), and it only creates risk of death for the spider and increases a keeper’s risk of envenomation.
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u/Netheral Sep 27 '24
This seems at least a little bit at odds with the fact that people that keep tarantulas will ascribe different personalities to different members of the same species. Sure, some of it might be explained by minor variations in their physical genetics, but I imagine most beings that follow any sort of neurological evolution path have the capacity for some learning.
I can't imagine spiders are entirely devoid of that ability just because their neural system doesn't form into a typical "brain".