The rice-sized spider that dances like a rainbow for its life
This spider is the size of a grain of rice — and dances like a tiny rainbow disco.
Which one is REALLY true about the Peacock Spider?
The short version
The male peacock spider, smaller than a grain of rice, has a flap on its back covered in iridescent scales of electric blue, red, and orange. It raises the flap like a peacock's tail and performs a rhythmic leg-waving dance to court a female — who may eat him if she's unimpressed.
Why it's so weird
- ✓The Peacock Spider is smaller than a single grain of rice.
- ✓The Peacock Spider has a flap on its back covered in shimmering scales of electric blue, red, and orange.
- ✓The Peacock Spider raises that flap like a peacock's tail and lifts a pair of legs high into the air.
- ✓The Peacock Spider performs a careful, rhythmic dance to try to impress a female.
- ✓The Peacock Spider may be eaten by the female if she is not impressed by his colors and moves.
You could line up about 244 of them along a 7-year-old!
The full story
This spider is smaller than a single grain of rice, and it dances like a tiny living rainbow. Meet the peacock spider, one of the most colorful animals on the entire planet. The male has a flap on his back covered in brilliant, shimmering scales, in electric blues, reds, and oranges that look almost too vivid to be real. When he spots a female, he lifts that flap up like a peacock's tail and raises a pair of legs high into the air. Then he begins to dance, waving his legs and shaking his vivid little body in a careful, rhythmic routine. It is all a high-stakes gamble, because if the female is not impressed by his colors and his moves, she may simply eat him. So he literally dances for his life, hoping his rainbow is dazzling enough to survive. Follow for more weird animal facts.
The flap is covered in thousands of tiny scales, which are really flattened hairs. The red and orange scales are full of pigment, colored chemicals that soak up other light. But the electric blue isn't pigment at all: those scales have microscopic ridges and layers spaced about as wide as a wave of light, and that structure bounces back only blue. Because this depends on the angle, the blue shimmers and shifts as he dances, the same trick that makes a soap bubble sparkle.
📚 Source: Rainbow peacock spiders inspire miniature super-iridescent optics (Nature Communications, 2017) ↗Scientists examined the spider's scales under powerful electron microscopes and built optical computer models, confirming that the blue is made by light bouncing off nanoscale structures while the red scales hold real pigment.
📚 Source: Splendid coloration of the peacock spider Maratus splendens (Journal of the Royal Society Interface, 2016) ↗Watch the 45-second version
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“The Peacock Spider is smaller than a single grain of rice.”
“The Peacock Spider dives at over 240 miles per hour, making it the fastest animal on the planet.”
“The Peacock Spider has a flap on its back covered in shimmering scales of electric blue, red, and orange.”