1,000 Baby Spiders are Filmed Eating Their Own Mother in Groundbreaking Footage
BBC filmmakers have captured first-of-its-kind footage of more than 1,000 baby spiders eating their mothers — groundbreaking scenes that “delighted and horrified” the documentary’s narrator Sir David Attenborough.
Attenborough’s new BBC series Parenthood features chilling behaviour never captured on camera before. The footage shows a swarm of young African social spiders working together to hunt, freeze in perfect unison like “musical statues,” and eventually consume their mothers and elderly relatives alive.
This unsettling behaviour is known as matriphagy — a type of parental cannibalism where offspring eat their mother, whether she’s already dead or still alive. Scientists say this often happens at the end of a mother’s caregiving period. While mostly seen in invertebrates, African social spiders are particularly well known for it, as the mothers eerily seem to invite their own deaths.
In the episode, which aired on Sunday, the baby spiders are filmed leaving the safety of their nest in search of food. They move in a coordinated rhythm — pausing together mid-step, then continuing — in a sequence that resembles a grim children’s game. At first, they attack a struggling insect caught in the communal web, tearing it apart while it’s still alive.
But when the prey runs out, the young spiders turn to a mother spider whose body is weakening after giving birth to hundreds of offspring. She becomes their next target. In the same chilling stop-start motion, the baby spiders close in on the mother and eventually begin feeding on her.
“The demands of parenthood are finally taking their toll,” Attenborough explains in his narration. “But the dying spider mom has a departing gift. Trembling, she waits for her offspring and their cousins to swarm and cannibalize her. Hers is the ultimate sacrifice, born out of a need to ensure the survival of the next generation.”
Scientists believe these mother African social spiders shake deliberately in their final moments, mimicking the vibrations of trapped insects. This may trick the young into attacking, helping the next generation survive by turning the mother’s body into a final meal.
According to a report The Guardian, Parenthood series producer and director Jeff Wilson says Attenborough was both “delighted and horrified” by the sequence — calling it one of the strongest narrations he’s ever delivered.
The footage is backed by music from Ted Lasso composer Tom Howe, which Wilson “adds to the whole horror.” The director called it one of the most memorable scenes he’s filmed in his 30-year career — and one that may strike a chord with parents watching.
Filmed over three years across six continents, Parenthood is the BBC’s first natural history series focused entirely on how animals raise the next generation, as climate change reshapes their survival strategies.
Image credits: Feature photo by BBC/Silverback Films/Tharina Bird.
