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Spiders eat a lot—like, as much or more than humans do.
蜘蛛的食量很大，甚至吃的比人類還多。
A study found the arachnids down between 400 million and 800 million metric tons of prey every year.
研究發(fā)現蜘蛛每年吞食掉4億至8億公噸的獵物。
Let's put that in perspective. Whales are thought to eat about 280 million to 500 million metric tons of prey a year. And humans eat around 400 million metric tons of meat and fish annually.
讓我們客觀來看，鯨魚每年吃掉2億8000萬到5億公噸的獵物。人類每年大約吃4億公噸的肉和魚。
If you're wondering why all of this matters, imagine if spiders didn't get rid of at least 400 million metric tons of bugs every year. Enough said.
如果你想知道為什么這一切那么重要，想象一下如果蜘蛛每年沒有消滅掉至少4億公噸的昆蟲會怎么樣。無須多講。
But in more serious terms, this matters because scientists have quantified how big of a role the eight-legged critters play in the global ecosystem.
但更為重要的是，科學家已經量化了這個八條腿的動物在全球生態(tài)系統(tǒng)中起了多大作用。
And spiders are apparently pretty difficult to track. Some are nocturnal, and others are just really good at hiding.
顯然，蜘蛛很難追蹤。有些是夜行性的，其它一些則擅長隱藏。
Ultimately, the authors point out, these findings show spiders are "major natural enemies of insects" and help limit population sizes.
最后作者指出，這些發(fā)現表明蜘蛛是昆蟲的主要天敵，有助于限制種群數量。
Another fun fact: Spiders have a population density up to 1,000 spiders per square meter. So there are probably a few around you right now.
另一個有趣的事實是蜘蛛的密度為每平方米高達1,000只蜘蛛。所以現在大概有幾只就在你身邊。
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