A spider digests its prey outside the body before drinking the resulting liquid.

The longer version

External digestion solves the problem of eating solid prey without jaws for chewing. A spider injects or regurgitates enzymes onto the captured animal, waits while the mixture breaks tissue down, then draws up the resulting liquid through a narrow opening.

Brushes and filters near the mouth hold back solid fragments, because only dissolved material can pass through the gut's fine inlet. Repeated pumping and soaking gradually empties the remains, which is why prey shrinks rather than vanishing. Since digestion happens outside the body, spiders can handle meals far larger than their own mouthparts suggest, sometimes liquefying them slowly over many hours.

Where this entry sits

This collection gathers small wonders from the world of ants, bees, butterflies, beetles, and spiders. Expect surprising details about swarms, silk, and metamorphosis, plus the strange everyday abilities of creatures small enough to fit on a fingertip. The full list sits on the Insects and Spiders page, where every entry is listed in order.