### id260586571 spiders can plan > One of the most fascinating aspects of *Portia*’s hunting strategy is that it often involves spotting prey from a distance and then planning out an elaborate route to get to it. Jackson first observed this in the wild when *Portia* encountered a species of orb weaver that [defends its web by violently shaking it](https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1469-7998.1992.tb04451.x), tossing any invading jumping spiders to the forest floor. Instead of entering the web, *Portia* navigated a roundabout path to find a better position from which to attack. “In that context, it was better for *Portia* to take the detour, go around the tree trunk, go up above the spider, go down on a line of silk, and swing in, grab the spider in its web without even touching the silk,” Cross says. > > Cross and Jackson argue that the spiders [planned the route](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4751061/) from the viewing tower and then followed it, possibly by forming a mental “representation” of the scene — an impressive cognitive feat for a brain barely bigger than a poppy seed. - [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01fqd31yrwgh4e1qmkdm64a0ke) - [[Spiders are Much Smarter than You Think by Betsy Mason#id260586571 spiders can plan|View in Vault]]