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by bonobo 4931 days ago
Step 1 doesn't need to be that appetizing if the cost of building the decoy is low. Any benefit, as little as it may be, is already an advantage if it covers that cost.

About the attention-seeking behavior, we can compare it to the same behavior geckos adopt when they find themselves in danger: they start shaking their tails vigorously to attract the attention of the predator to the tail (geckos are known for being able to detach their tails in these cases, and once detached the tail keep shaking vigorously, potentially attracting the predator giving the gecko a chance to escape). In both cases, the spider and the gecko seem to only engage in this behavior once they already have the predator's attention, so trying to escape without shifting the predator's attention to the decoy could actually put the attention on them.