My (recently deceased) pet jumper really made me grasp that most animal life on Earth has a sense of self and desires beyond basic survival.

I mean, I knew these things as concepts before, some old study decades ago concluded that earthworms have characteristics of consciousness, if not full blown consciousness and self awareness, but there is a difference between reading about it, and experiencing it firsthand.

My spider absolutely loved sunsets. She had a particular spot in her enclosure that she would sit on, and watch the sunset every day. No reason for it beyond she liked to see it. Driven by purely biological needs, jumpers will either be hunting, hiding, or looking for a mate, but they exhibit “recreational” activities.

You can kind of communicate with a jumping spider too. They wiggle their chelicerae to communicate visually. I could put my fingers up near my mouth, and mimic the movements my spider would do. After a few repetitions, she would start to mimic me. I don’t thing any grand concepts were conveyed, but I’m pretty sure she was recognizing mimicry from something that was not a spider.

They’re really smart, and each one has their own personality, problem is, they don’t live very long. Her last day was a hard day to say the least.