A closer look

Spiders are essentially tiny, terrifying hydraulic machines. While humans use a system of opposing muscles to pull their bones back and forth, spiders only have flexor muscles to curl their legs inward. To extend the leg back out, they literally have to spike their own blood pressure, blasting hemolymph fluid into the limb to snap it straight. This is why they immediately curl up into a pathetic little ball when they die—the hydraulic pressure suddenly drops to zero.