- Study raises the question of whether social 'hippie' spiders truly have personalities at all
- Individual behaviour in spider communities far more fluid than previously thought
- Instead of fixed behavioural types, spiders appear to adjust their behaviour dynamically based on circumstances
New research led by the University of Portsmouth has revealed that African social spiders - dubbed 'hippie spiders' for their cooperative lifestyle - may not have distinct personalities after all.
A study, published in Animal Behaviour, has revealed their behavioural traits fluctuate dramatically over time, challenging previous assumptions about animal individuality.
Animal personality is typically defined as behaviour that remains consistent across time and context. However, the findings suggest that commonly used methods for assessing personality in social spiders may be flawed.
Rather than demonstrating stable traits, the behaviour of Stegodyphus dumicola spiders (social 'hippie' spiders) was found to vary wildly over time, likely in response to internal states such as hunger levels and external environmental factors.
Researchers monitored 28 social spider colonies every two weeks over four months, measuring three key behavioural traits: boldness and fleeing responses when perceiving a threat; and prey capture speed in a group setting.
The study found that while individual spiders initially displayed consistent behaviours over short periods, these patterns changed significantly over time. Scientists also discovered an individual spider's initial behaviour did not predict how it would act later in life.
Our study raises the question of whether these spiders truly have personalities at all. We found that their behaviour fluctuates so much that it's misleading to classify individuals as having stable personality traits.
Dr Lena Grinsted, School of the Environment and Life Sciences at the University of Portsmouth
Lead author, Dr Lena Grinsted , Senior Lecturer in Zoology in the School of the Environment and Life Sciences at the University of Portsmouth, said: "Our study raises the question of whether these spiders truly have personalities at all. We found that their behaviour fluctuates so much that it's misleading to classify individuals as having stable personality traits.
"This challenges past studies that have assumed personality traits remain fixed based on observations conducted over only a few days or behavioural tests repeated only a small number of times."
Previous research has revealed that social Stegodyphus spiders live in a cooperative, seemingly fair and equal society where individuals work together to hunt and raise young, and even sacrifice themselves for the colony offspring.
While researchers in the past have speculated that individuals may take on specific roles such as babysitters or foragers, this study suggests that spider roles are far more fluid than previously thought. Instead of fixed behavioural types, spiders appear to adjust their behaviour dynamically, based on circumstances.
Dr Grinsted added: "It's tempting to assume that these cooperative spiders have defined roles within their societies, just as we see in some other social animals, like ants. However, our findings suggest they may instead live in an even more equal society than expected, where individuals participate in tasks as needed rather than being locked into specific behavioural roles.
"This challenges the idea that individual personalities drive evolutionary and ecological outcomes in this species - at least based on using traditional methods to assess personality in spiders."
These findings have major implications for behavioural ecology research. The paper calls on scientists to design more rigorous studies that track behaviour over much longer periods, rather than relying on short-term observations to assess animal personality.
It also warns against assuming that social spiders have stable personality traits, as their behaviour appears to be highly flexible and context-dependent.
"This study really highlights the importance of understanding how behaviour changes over the course of an animal's lifetime", explained Dr Grinsted.
"Our humble 'hippie' spiders have demonstrated how categorising individuals into 'bold', 'shy' or 'aggressive' based on a few observations is not just inaccurate, it may lead to wrong conclusions about evolutionary outcomes.
"So, much like people, you can't judge a spider on first impressions and they're not a fan of labels either!"
The study was a collaboration between the University of Portsmouth, Aarhus University, Denmark, University of Paris-Saclay, France, and LMU, Germany.
