The legs on this puppy-sized spider are a foot long

[SvenSvensonov]

Have you had any nightmares, lately? Would you like some? Then you'll love the South American Goliath birdeater. This furry spider is the size of a puppy, and thanks to hard claws on the tips of its foot-long legs, it makes a horrifying clicking sound when it scampers through the forest.

Harvard etymologist Piotr Naskrecki recently spotted a Goliath birdeater in Guyana. He was actually hunting for katydids but instead he enjoyed the pleasure of meeting a puppy-sized spider.

At first, Naskrecki thought it was a possum. Then, like any good scientiest would do when spotting a rare species, he lunged at it. This was a mistake:

Every time I got too close to the birdeater it would do three things. First, the spider would start rubbing its hind legs against the hairy abdomen. "Oh, how cute!", I thought when I first saw this adorable behavior, until a cloud of urticating hair hit my eyeballs, and made me itch and cry for several days.

But wait, there's more:

If that wasn't enough, the arachnid would rear its front legs and open its enormous fangs, capable of puncturing a mouse's skull, and tried to jab me with the pointy implements.

Let's review. Curious scientist strolls through Amazonian rainforest encounters puppy-sized spider with claw-shaped hooves, repeatedly approaches beast only to be sprayed in the eyeballs with "a cloud of urticating hair" and then the fangs came out.

Enjoy the nightmares—and never go wandering through the rainforest at night.

(from Gizmodo, Pictures belong to Piotr Naskrecki)

* My Comments;

This was my reaction;

 

[Gandhi G in da house]

Have you had any nightmares, lately? Would you like some? Then you'll love the South American Goliath birdeater. This furry spider is the size of a puppy, and thanks to hard claws on the tips of its foot-long legs, it makes a horrifying clicking sound when it scampers through the forest.

Harvard etymologist Piotr Naskrecki recently spotted a Goliath birdeater in Guyana. He was actually hunting for katydids but instead he enjoyed the pleasure of meeting a puppy-sized spider.

At first, Naskrecki thought it was a possum. Then, like any good scientiest would do when spotting a rare species, he lunged at it. This was a mistake:

Every time I got too close to the birdeater it would do three things. First, the spider would start rubbing its hind legs against the hairy abdomen. "Oh, how cute!", I thought when I first saw this adorable behavior, until a cloud of urticating hair hit my eyeballs, and made me itch and cry for several days.

But wait, there's more:

If that wasn't enough, the arachnid would rear its front legs and open its enormous fangs, capable of puncturing a mouse's skull, and tried to jab me with the pointy implements.

Let's review. Curious scientist strolls through Amazonian rainforest encounters puppy-sized spider with claw-shaped hooves, repeatedly approaches beast only to be sprayed in the eyeballs with "a cloud of urticating hair" and then the fangs came out.

Enjoy the nightmares—and never go wandering through the rainforest at night.

(from Gizmodo, Pictures belong to Piotr Naskrecki)

* My Comments;

This was my reaction;

Somehow spiders never scared me. It's lizards that I hate.

 

[Skull and Bones]

Somehow spiders never scared me. It's lizards that I hate.

Snake for me, it creeps me out.

 

[SvenSvensonov]

Somehow spiders never scared me. It's lizards that I hate.

Ya, I'm not afraid of spiders, just don't like them in my house. Outside? They can live in peace and go about their business of eating other things I don't like. Inside? They die.

 

[Gandhi G in da house]

Snake for me, it creeps me out.

Reptiles man , all of them , lizards, snakes, crocs. Hate them all.

 

[TankMan]

Spiders are the only thing that manage to scare me, I've seen snakes, lizards, ugly frogs, worms and all kinds of bugs, the only things that creeped me out were spiders... damn it.

Appropriate reaction to that spider:

 

[Skull and Bones]

Reptiles man , all of them , lizards, snakes, crocs. Hate them all.

I had the luxury to hold a one foot long cayman at Philadelphia adventure aquarium, not that bitchy I'd say.

 

[oFFbEAT]

All multiple legged insects scare the hell out of me.......
More the number of legs......scarier they look.....

 

[DESERT FIGHTER]

Lol at the nancies scared of shitty little spiders n lizards etc..

Internet warriors scared of insects..

 

[kadamba-warrior]

Somehow spiders never scared me. It's lizards that I hate.

Same here with me! What is more interesting is that I have heard too many Indians holding this view about spiders!!! Even the ones that are easily scared, otherwise.

In Australia and the Americas, just a mention of the word "spider" somehow scares the life out of people (for most of them, anyway).

I understand India doesn't have any seriously venomous spider (we more than, make up for it with our reptiles and other general creepy crawlies ) and they have some seriously dangerous spiders.

But still, it is amazing how people from different regions react differently to spiders!

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Lol at the nancies scared of shitty little spiders n lizards etc..

Internet warriors scared of insects..

They can get big

 

[BestUsernameEver]

Look at the fangs on that bastard

 

[gau8av]

 

[bloo]

Arachnophobia is one of the most common phobias today. It is the result of an evolutionary trait, where early homosapiens were instilled with the need to be afraid of the creepy crawlies for preservation of life, and who know if spiders back then were either decent sized and plenty or super huge and freakin scary. Therefore humans of the 21st century too have arachnophobia even when most people have hardly ever being bitten by a spider or suffered the trauma of been attacked by a Brazilian wandering spider.

 

[RKO]

so many...animal haters here!!!