How do you milk a spider? It’s a question you’ve probably (read: hopefully) never asked yourself, but one that the ant-mimicking spider Toxeus magnus has got us thinking about. You see, when the momma spider’s eggs hatch and she finds herself with a clutch of bouncing baby spiderlings, she does something remarkable: she produces milk . The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.

Her spiderlings are completely reliant on the spider milk in the same way that mammals are reliant on their mother’s milk to keep them fed in their early days. What’s more, she’ll continue feeding them the nutrient-rich excretion until well after they’re big enough to go foraging on their own. Mom of the year, amiright?

And as for what a nursing spid

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