We classify spiders into over a hundred families, like jumping spiders, crab spiders, wolf spiders, ogre-faced spiders, bird-eating spiders (which are also known as tarantulas), and the primitively segmented spiders. Some spiders are very good at camouflage—the art of disguise. Often, the colors of camouflaged spiders blend nicely into the environment, but spiders do a lot more than that to protect themselves. Some, for example, are difficult to tell apart from ants, and that disguise makes them safe from predators that dislike stinging ants. Tropical orb weavers have lots of different shapes. Some look like leaves, others like twigs, bark, or even bird droppings and all in order to fool their predators. Other spiders may protect themselves with armor. Spiny orb weavers, for example, have various thorny projections that predators will want to avoid. Some other spiders show flashy colors intended to warn their predators that they are not the kind of prey that should be meddled with. Recently, we discovered an orb-weaver spider in the tropical forests of China whose abdomen resembles both a green leaf and a dried-up leaf at the same time.

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