February 28, 2005 4:15 PM GMT
Here's one that will have almost anyone, 'cept maybe Shan, jumping up and down and screaming.
http://www.guinnessworldr[...]d=51536
Bird spiders from the New World are called tarantulas, but they are not real tarantulas.
The biggest bird spider and largest spider in the world (the Theraphosa blondi) with a SPAN!!! of 25-30 cm at the most (a legspan of 10 inches' weighing more than 6 ounces) Specimens that have 12 inch legspan have been recorded. This is most impressive if you hold out your hand and put a ruler across it! Then go change your panties. So the Aelurillus could not jump ACROSS this spider. Also feeds on frogs, small snakes, beetles, lizards, adult mice and young rats and even bats. The Goliath, as it is known, is a very aggressive spider. Now I had been told, a Brazilian who said he owned a bird spider, that they jump 20+ feet, but it's likely that it was the flying-glide that they do, not a true jump. So when you are in Brazil and a 10" wide spider lands on you, be reassured it did not jump. And this type of spider only socializes for sex, so I guess it needs "love". I think he was in chat the other night.
I used to be a real arachnophobe, but I got a book and learned about them and now I frequently pick them up and move them somewhere safe...outside if they are lost. HINT: Harvestman spiders (Daddy Long Legs) like corn fritter batter).
February 28, 2005 5:18 PM GMT
Shan do you know what this was called?
Dinner
February 28, 2005 5:18 PM GMT
Shan do you know what this was called?
Dinner