March 27, 2011 - Lone Wolf
Welcome to the Nature Notebook.

Spring reaches upward from cold, wet soil. It pulses on the breath of the winds. It teases the first insects of the year from their winter hideaways and tickles the ground with the hairy feet of wolf spiders. These stout spiders spin no web. Each hunts like a lone wolf pursuing prey. Sometimes wolf spiders leap from ambush on an unsuspecting insect. At other times they run it down. Their eight prominent eyes allow these wolves to hunt by sight. They see not only in front of them but also above and behind. Wolf spiders frequent gardens, basements and garages. Although they have a painful bite, they tend to shy away from humans and typically hunt at night. Cold weather can drive them indoors, so look carefully; you just might have a wolf at the door — a wolf spider that is.

This is PPL's naturalist, Jon Beam, with the Nature Notebook for WVIA.