Doctor Defeats Arachnophobia By Studying Spiders Up Close

Doctor Defeats Arachnophobia By Studying Spiders Up Close

Doctor Fiona Cross used to run away from daddy long-legs screaming in fright, but decided to fight her fear rather than let it get the best of her. While she started out studying psychology, Doctor Cross ended up switching to zoology and becoming an aracnologist after deciding to join a study about Kenyan jumping spiders. She never thought she would actually be interested in a creature with such a small brain, but learned quickly that size doesn’t always matter when it comes to arachnids. “I became fascinated with the way spiders could perform tasks normally associated with larger-brained animals, such as making plans, and deceiving their prey,” she said.  Cross turned what was a horrible fear into a reasonably healthy obsession (she is, after all, still studying spiders). That obsession led her twenty years later to complete her doctorate studies with an intense look into mosquito-eating jumping spiders.

Cross jumped at the chance to these study jumping spiders in Kenya in 2006, and has since then made nine trips lasting around 6 months each to Kenya to feed her obsession. One of her more important discoveries was that these mosquito-eating spiders prefer their meals to be of the kind that spread Malaria. Her mother suffered from the disease during her childhood in Africa, making it a particularly interesting find for Cross to make. She now also enjoys taking other young women spider hunting with her, and sharing her love of spiders with them. Cross found that sharing this knowledge about spiders and educating more women about this often misunderstood creature was quite liberating for all involved. “They have told me afterwards that this [spider hunting] was so liberating, because women aren’t supposed to be interested in spiders,” she said.

Now, when Cross is asked which of these Kenyan jumping spiders is her favorite she quickly points to the Portia Africana. This is one of the small jumping spiders actually discovered by Cross and a colleague of hers during their research in Kenya. She insists that they are quite cute, and look like teddy bears up close…everyone is aloud to have their own opinion after all…

Have you ever turned a fear into a strength by confronting it? Do you think this little spider looks cute or like a teddy bear, or is this a case of colored perspective?