Living on The Edge

The walls of the Bhoomi buildings on the campus are pleasant to look at. The muddy brown color, with moving shadows of leaves falling on the walls, makes them look like they are one with the soil and the surroundings.

To reinforce the buildings, there are beams made of concrete that run parallel to the ground on the walls. This small nudge on the surface of the wall makes a huge difference in the way life thrives on these walls.

If you casually glance at this space, it is usually filled with fine white webs of many spiders. But upon closer observation you can see many lifeforms thriving on the edge.

On observing the easily noticeable spider webs, there were finely meshed, multi-layered sheets of web that act as retreats for the stealthy ant-mimic spider. As the name suggests, they mimic weaver ants and occasionally prey on them. The adaptations of the spider were very intriguing, but seeing its moult (the shedding of the outer layer – the exoskeleton of the spider) in the same space was also reassuring, as it showed the undisturbed spaces the spiders have chosen.

Other spider webs, such as those of the hackled orb weavers, have tiny spiderlings emerging from their egg sacs. They look like tiny specks of black dots on the brown wall, and as the wind disturbs the fine webs, they scurry around on the thin strands.

“How do they get access to their prey?” was the thought that came to me when I saw multiple webs in close proximity. Though I couldn’t witness the hunt, there were signs of their stealthy captures on the walls. For instance, termite wings were caught in the webs—likely from termites attracted to the small light bulb on the wall before being trapped by some of the nearby spiders. There were also signs of other tiny insects trapped in the webs.

It’s not just the spiders—many other insects have laid their eggs on the edge of the beam. The tiny, transparent, cylindrical eggs of the stink bugs or shield bugs were arranged in circular patterns. There were also eggs of assassin bugs, which look like cylindrical structures adorned with tiny, Santa-like hat tips. Imagine tiny insects laying eggs that are both fragile and finely crafted.

It’s not just the eggs—other stages of life are thriving on the walls as well. Caterpillars of moths pupate on the rough texture of the walls, finding the small corners of the beam conducive for building their cocoons. Some emerge from the pupae successfully, while others are parasitized by wasps.

Life just goes full cycle on the edges of the concrete beam and the mud bricks. For me, the concrete beam signifies the concretization in cities, while the mud bricks signify the simple ways of sustainable living. We can easily get swayed by the comforts of urban life, and there is guilt in using these comforts as they indirectly affect the earth. How do we live sustainably in the rapidly changing landscapes of cities? These are some of the thoughts I ponder when observing life thriving on the edge.

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Jayarakesh, Nature Educator & Mentor, Teach for Nature