“This is the first record of an animal constructing a larger, elaborate decoy animal,” he wrote in an email to Science Friday. “This type of complicated behavior is also surprising coming from something like a spider, as opposed to animals that we typically associate with more complex behavior, such as birds or mammals.”
It’s unclear why the spider sets the stage this way, but Torres says that other spiders of the same genus, Cyclosa, have a similar trick—they build and hide among balls of debris that serve as decoys to distract predators looking for a bite.
Torres calls the fakes “surprisingly accurate.” But if you ask me, some look a bit... sad (like the picture below).
If sneaky spiders are your thing, a live video stream is in the works, so you’ll be able to watch a little arachnid puppetry too. You can also keep up with Phil Torres on his Twitter.