Scientists explain why spiders have as many as 8 eyes

Spiders have eight eyes, which together offer them an almost 360-degree view of the world. This is a great advantage for a small animal that is both hunter and prey.

On each side of the spider's head is another pair of eyes with a lower resolution. They allow the spider to observe what is happening behind it, writes Science News.

Scientists explain that spiders have eyes similar to humans but with only one lens (humans have two). The largest central pair or sometimes pairs of eyes that face forward are called the main eyes, known as the anteromedial eyes or AME. Unlike, for example, an owl, which can crane its neck to see a wide field of vision, the arrangement of the eyes in spiders gives them a larger field of vision because they do not have a neck to crane.

Each of the four pairs of eyes in a jumping spider does a different job. However, they work together as a team.

"It's really interesting to me how these eyes work together," comments Elizabeth Jacob, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Experts have conducted scientific research on the vision of jumping spiders. They have a typical arrangement of eight eyes in four pairs. However, jumping spiders have one of these pairs slightly enlarged, with two large eyes in the front of the head, and other eyes on the sides to help detect when something is moving closer to them. Experiments have shown how important these eyes are to the spider and even found that they can recognize spiders they have met before.

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