article_snippet.sent: Fear of spiders is a survival trait written into our DNA, researchers have discovered.
article_snippet.sent: Dating back hundreds of thousands of years, the instinct to avoid arachnids developed as an evolutionary response to a dangerous threat, the academics suggest.
article_snippet.sent: It could mean that arachnophobia, one of the most crippling of phobias, represents a finely tuned survival instinct.
article_snippet.sent: Researchers say a fear of spiders is a survival trait written into our DNA and dates back thousands of years, Stock photo .
highlights_snippet.sent: Instinct to avoid arachnids developed as evolutionary response to threat .
  
highlights_snippet.sent: Scientists say it could mean arachnophobia represents survival instinct .
  