Arachnophobe, calm down

Go ahead. Just try telling your old grandmother than this granddaddy longlegs is not a spider. “If it’s not a spider, then why does it have eight legs?” I imagine my grandmother saying, shaking her head and muttering to herself that I couldn’t tell a spider when I saw it. That spider’s got no fangs, grandmother. He’s got no venom. “WHAT?” my grandmother might have roared. “Why, that’s about the deadliest spider there is, if it could bite you. But his mouthparts aren’t big enough to bite.” And that settles it because who’s going to argue with grandmother? But granddaddy longlegs are not spiders. They have one main body part instead of two, no fangs, and no venom. They do, however, have stinky scent glands to discourage predators, and they’ll eat almost anything. They smell, taste, and touch with their longest, creepiest legs. Truth be told, a granddaddy longlegs watched my grandmother every day from the broad shade of a hydrangea outside her back door. She never bothered him, and he never bothered her. ~K 

DID YOU KNOW?

Granddaddy longlegs, also known as harvestmen, will loose a leg in order to escape from a predator. The severed leg will “twitch” for up to an hour, holding the attention of the predator while the harvestman escapes. The leg does not grow back.