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


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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 forrest.


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.


 


 


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Looks like a lot of meat on that spider, would be a great find for any individual starving in the jungle if it doesn't consist of poison.

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Their bites are usually dry except for when taking prey, but if they do use some it's about the same as a wasp sting. Painful, but not lethal unless you have an allergy. Takes quite a bit to provoke a bite though.

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I'll feed that thing to my Arowana someday :woot:

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What on earth...

 

Anyways. I would find the biggest rock I could carry and smash the thing with it. But then it would probably just lift the rock up and walk off with it.  :s

 

True story. I one smashed a cockroach to little pieces with a breeze block. the effing thing then slid the breeze block out of the way and walked off :o

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Kill it with fire

 

 

No way, man. I think it's a gorgeous creature. Spiders are rarely a problem unless you make them one, like provoking htem by trying to kill them.

 

As I sit here typing this there is a huntsmen spider crawling across the molding above my monitor. He's probably out hunting silverfish and cockroaches, I wish him luck.

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No way, man. I think it's a gorgeous creature. Spiders are rarely a problem unless you make them one, like provoking htem by trying to kill them.

 

As I sit here typing this there is a huntsmen spider crawling across the molding above my monitor. He's probably out hunting silverfish and cockroaches, I wish him luck.

 

Not always true!!

 

http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/spider-burrowed-into-appendix-scar-crawled-through-wa-mans-body-20141016-1171lq.html

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