Remember that scene in Blade Runner when a character recalls a spider near her window that worked on a web all summer, only to be eaten alive by her young when they hatched? It's a creepy moment, and based on a very common occurrence in the arachnid world. Yes, a spider's first breakfast is sometimes Mom... and she often sacrifices herself willingly.
Cannibalism may be an everyday nuisance for the average spider, but that doesn't make this clip from National Geographic any less shocking to watch. But not nearly as shocking as this man who beaks open a wasp nest and gets a horrifying spider surprise.
The motivation for this self-sacrifice, called matriphagy (“mother-eating”), is that the baby spiders learn crucial hunting instincts immediately after hatching... and once they detect her movement on the web, it's not long before they get down to business.
Ready for more twisted spider videos? How about this clip of an artistically inclined arachnid that makes ghoulish sculptures of itself?