Until the nest, the jumping spiders suck the milk of spiders of their mothers

Much like baby mammals breastfeeding in their mother's nipples, some jumping spider babies depend entirely on the nutritious spider milk that is secreted to them and that their mother feeds them. What's more, spider mothers continue to care and feed their offspring with the milk-like fluid – which contains nearly four times more protein than cow's milk – in their subadult life and, long after , study finds. According to the results, this particular and newly identified behavior compares functionally and behaviorally to lactation in mammals and suggests the possibility that long-term maternal care for milk supply is more common than in the past. we did not think about it before. For many animals, the growth, development and survival of young people depend entirely on the nutritious food often provided by their parents. Mammals produce their own nutrients, such as milk, and feed their offspring until they learn to fend for themselves. Although lactation supply is known elsewhere in the animal kingdom, the intensity and duration of associated parental care are exclusively mammalian and should improve physical fitness by providing children with the opportunity to learn about behaviors essential to survival. However, Zhanqi Chen and colleagues describe a surprisingly similar, but particularly bewildering, milk supply behavior in Toxeus magnus, a spider-like spider mimicking an ant. Laboratory observations show that young spiders first drink in droplets deposited on the surface of the nest, then that they suck directly into the oviposition opening of the mother. According to Chen et al., The spiders stayed in the nest and were fed spider's milk for nearly 40 days, shortly before reaching sexual maturity. In addition, the authors found that although breastfeeding was not essential for the survival of offspring after independence, the presence of their mother during their young age greatly ensured their overall health and survival of their adult lives . Breastfeeding and maternal care also seemed important to maintain the number of adult children required for optimal spider breeding; Although mothers treated all juveniles in the same way, only girls were allowed to return to the breeding nest after sexual maturity, the authors observed.

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