Rejection is hard, especially if you're a male jumping spider! Life science scholars watch as the little spiders bust a move in an interesting video. Thanks to some amazing research, viewers can even hear the male's built-in beat box as he flexes and gyrates. Will he succeed ... or be flung away by his potential mate?

Concepts

spiders, animal behavior, animal anatomy, reproduction

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Additional Tags

science

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Instructional Ideas

• Use the video to show an example of courtship behavior and the mate selection process
• For a fun extension, compare the jumping spider's courtship dance to the dances of other sexually-reproducing species throughout the animal kingdom
  

Classroom Considerations

• Provide a quick review of spider anatomy before watching the video

• This video is hosted on YouTube

Pros

• The video shows the dance close-up and includes audio and a visual reference of the vibrations produced by the male spider's abdomen
• Amusing script adds colorful commentary to the dance

Cons

• None

Common Core

SL.6.2 SL.7.2 SL.9-10.2