RECLUSIVE – The brown recluse spider lives up to its name and prefers to hide in little-used spaces. Learn more in this short video. Discover more interesting tidbits from our online Field Guide: https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide | Missouri Dept. of Conservation

How dangerous is the brown recluse really? Even the mention of the brown recluse is often met with disgust and fear, quickly followed up by an anecdote of a friend or family member that has suffered the “bite” of these fearsome spiders. One problem: 99% of the time the bite reports don’t match anything these spiders can actually do. That’s right, there’s not actual evidence to suggest these animals are capable of causing those gaping softball sized black wounds that people claim come from these