There are many animals on the planet that are truly scary, but spiders aren’t one of them. In fact, spiders do much more good than harm. Most people are afraid of spiders because they bite. But only two kinds of spiders in the U.S. – the black widow and the brown recluse – are venomous to people. In the whole world, only 25 species of spiders can harm humans, out of over 37,000 species.
So what’s so great about spiders? First, they eat insects – and lots of them. One spider can eat over 2,000 insects a year. Without them, your home and garden would be overrun with flies, mosquitoes and beetles. Spiders also have several fancy tricks that make them different than any other animal.