It is one of the animals that terrorizes us the most. Hairy, dangerous, dirty: spiders are not really popular. What if we had it all wrong? The Bêtes noire web series has gone exploring.
They are everywhere. In our bathtub, under our bed or on our doorstep. In Switzerland, in a meadow, there are nearly a hundred per square meter. If the sight of a spider paralyzes you, rest assured: you are not alone. Nearly half the population is afraid of it.
Dirty face offense
What if our many roommates were simply victims of a dirty-mouthed crime? “The spiders that we most easily have around us are often dark, nocturnal and associated with dirt. There are plenty of negative connotations in the human mind,” underlines Christine Rollard, arachnologist at the History Museum natural environment of Paris. Before reassuring: “No spider, contrary to fiction films, attacks Man”.
When I saw a spider, I had to call someone to come and get it.
All this is not enough to reassure a minority of the population – less than 10% – who suffer from arachnophobia. We then talk about illness and it can be cured: “When I saw a spider, I panicked, I had to call someone to come and get it”, testifies Mylène, a 27-year-old from Lausanne, who decided to overcome her anxiety through therapy. “Today, it’s better, I’m still a little scared but it’s a big step that has been taken,” she explains, even three months after her desensitization.
>> Read also: Courses to accept, understand and then overcome arachnophobia
What if, instead of killing them with a slipper or a fly swatter, we started loving them? It must be said that spiders have more than one trick in their web and would provide us with a greater service than we think: “They clearly regulate the populations of mosquitoes that try to bite us,” explains Theo Chapuis, a lover of spiders and other little creatures that everyone hates. If they are no longer there to do this work, we will have to find a replacement, and he or she is not necessarily there.”
Voracious predators
Voracious predators, spiders end up, in turn, in the stomachs of many mammals and birds of all kinds. They are therefore an essential cog in the food pyramid of living things.
Simon Gabioud & Michael Lapaire / sjaq
