Incredible footage has emerged of a spider using sophisticated hunting techniques requiring strategic thinking in order to plan its attack.
The portia spider, a species of jumping arachnid, is found in many parts of south-east Asia and some parts of Africa.
Researchers claim the spider is capable of calculating its chances of success using various approaches toward its prey.
A spider will sometimes sit for hours, apparently “thinking”, before launching into a plan to ambush other spiders – a staple of their diet.
Portia spiders have been observed imitating the movements of a creature caught in another spiders web – creating a deadly trap to lure out their dinner.
The incredible critters have also been known to lower themselves down by a thread, Mission Impossible-style, on top of their unsuspecting victim – surprising their prey with a fatal ambush.
“While millions of other predators have repeated the same behavior to obtain the same food for thousands of years at a time, a spider with fewer brain cells than a honeybee has learned to formulate a unique course of action for each new situation,” wrote one observer.
Even though the spiders often hunt prey far larger than themselves, their deadly venom is potent enough to be able to kill within minutes.
Luckily for human beings, the spiders are miniature in size, measuring between 5 and 10 millimetres.