Giant Spider shown "eating" huge bird in web

That is hands down the creepiest thing I have EVER seen. I can't thank you enough for the impending insomnia and permanent creepies. Remind me that I owe you one.

reply to post by antar


errrrrr do you know how stupid cows are.

I mean really, let me tell you the story about Ribeye the cow.

So I was sitting at my house a bit away from the city, and neighbors have a few cattle, 5 or 6 or so.

They shot at ribeye, missed, clipped it's shoulder, and then Ribeye ran -- Onto my property, so they had to fence him up on my property under one condition, I get a good cut of meat.

They come back a week later after the adrenaline leaves the body, and cap it in the head. Now, you think a cow that was just shot, knows what a gun looks like, etc etc, would try and escape. Nope.


Arachanids are more intellegent than cows. I mean you see a little tiny baby spider those ones the size of a pin tip, and you try and kill it, it runs, and it knows.

You tear down a spider web, they know, they see humans, they hide. However I have a plethra of spiders in my garage and I enjoy their company, they keep the flies out. in fact every now and then I'll catch a grasshopper and give them a extra treat.

They love me. =) in fact I named a few of them, Bob is my favorite.

edit:

And that is one BEAST of a spider. I'm going to check to see if they stated the type of spider it is, if it's a gardener spider, I will kill them on site because if that beast landed on my shoulder I would have a freakin heart attack and I'm only 20.

[edit on 23-10-2008 by AlienGhandi]

reply to post by IMAdamnALIEN


I saw a ton of those Banana Spider's when I was in Jamaica. My fiance and I hiked up "The Ochos Rios" waterfalls, and the guide said those massive spiders were harmless. Looking back on it now, I must have been drunk in order to be within 50 feet of those scary insects.

Peace

reply to post by ColoradoJens


Oh, just what I needed to see after having a nightmare about a spider attacking me!

OK call me a hypocrite I can take it, but I just feel personally I would have first accessed the situation, if the bird was dead from a venomous bite, I would walk away, but if I could save it I would.

Once my mom and I were driving down a dark road on Halloween, she struck a rabbit and when I looked back it was wheeling all over the road in obvious pain. I freaked out! I told her to go back and run its head over, to take it out of its misery. She could not do it. I did.

She never quite looked at me the same after that experience, she had more respect for what I did, she understood that I was not being a hypocrite, but a compassionate conscious being.

Animals have always been able to find me when they are injured, it is 'always' a nature call, do I allow the natural process to happen or intervene? So far when ever possible I use my God given gifts and save the animals. I do not kill spiders, or freakish looking anything. I set them outside and ask them to leave.

I have also been known to remove dead animals and snakes from the road.

And I will be honest, the day I found the little snake with the large frogleg in its mouth, I walked away, upset but I walked away. I made it to the house, called my ex crying almost, and after we hung up I went out and tried to get the frog out of the snakes mouth. I just couldnt 'not' do anything, it is not me.

It was hard and I had to get a stick, the snake had a grip, one leg and 1/4 of the frogs body in its mouth. Not wanting to hurt the snake I struggled to open its mouth with the stick, the frog was numb, it had been paralised, I considered walking away,it croaked at me to help it. So I did.

Setting it by an overflowing water trough, I walked away and let nature take its course. When the kids later got home I told them and when they went to look the frog was gone.

Wow!, that was amazing, you will get a flag from me mister. I would hate to be in the back yard and that thing fall on my head.....Wheeeew!...Well all I can say is thanks, I never have seen or ever imagined a spider to get that big...

That is one gnarly spider that got a huge lunch.

I'm all for mother nature at work and all, but this is slightly sad to me because I keep mannikins, and they're such cute little personable finches.

reply to post by Alien Ghandi


Your name is appropriate. Gandhi was one of the most passive aggressive men to ever have disciples. He would torture his students by hurting himself.

It is one thing if he whacks the students for their wrong doings, that would heal and it would be done with... over, but the cruelty of him starving or hurting himself to punish his students, now that's a thousand times worse for the student, not only for making his master suffer, but the others would be so mad at him for his stupidity. And he may have simply eaten a few bites more than he was suppose to, after all to deny ones nature was the essence of Ghandi's teachings. To even look at a woman, and Gandhi finds out... You must be an alien, to compassion and truth and light.

reply to post by ColoradoJens


OMFG!! I had no idea spiders could get that big or eat something that big. I have no idea how big the bird is or what kind (sorry have not read the thread yet) But that doesnt look like a humming bird.
I hate to say it but thank god that thing is on a whole other continent. I want at least an ocean separating me from that monster.

Originally posted by antar
Thats just sick, I would have saved the poor creature. I realize some people see it as 'nature' however I believe in miracles and for the bird it was a miracle a human saw what was happening and had the freewill and choice to save the bird. He may not have and just allowed the bird to suffer. I would hope as it is a familys back yard that they would teach empathy to their children by helping the bird. With mentality like that he could have placed the bird there just for the exposure.

what.. and cost the spider a meal?
thats cruel to starve a spider.
what about teaching the children empathy for the spider?

oh wait.. the birdy looks cuter to you so you want to save it and deprive the spider of a meal purely on personal preference of species..
because birdies sing and are pretty to you and spider are mean and ugly to you.

i see how you work.



kinda like how most American people cringe at the thought of eating Dog meat, because we think they're cute... and thus love them.
But.. most Americans are almost just as likely to chomp down into pork and bacon... the flesh of the pig.. which in clinical studies has been shown to be superior in intelligence to dogs, yet we slaughter them and feed off their flesh.

but awww the poor pig better take away the bacon from the man's plate just like taking the bird from the spider web!..but let the dog live.. because he's more aesthetically pleasing.

you're just being a girl.. pretty birdy.. save da pretty birdy.. let the nasty wasty spider starve...

typical.


actually i wonder which organism carries more blood-borne and insect borne pathogens and parasites? the spider.. or the freaking feathered bird??

i wonder if you're gonna go round saving birdies from being eaten by spiders during an avian bird flu pandemic????

(natural predators reduce the level of severity any other disease-spreading animal causes...ie: cats killing flea infested mice... )

if given all the facts.. and omitting the aesthetic appeal of what you're been conditioned to know as "cute" .. i'd say the intelligent people in the world would choose the spider and let it have its well sought meal.


but wait..

tweety's so cute...
i can't resist my emotions that have been entrained into me through my up bringing... these moral codes that i swear to the bone are manifestations of absolute truth love and light...
.. and i must forfeit clinical thinking....

tweety's so cute...
never mind the plague ridden lice infesting his feathers. that might get on me or my children..
i just can't resist this trained reactoin of needing to protect things that look more fluffy and innocent (even though they commit massive earthworm genocide daily)

so cuuuutie poootie....

BUT
bad spider!!
you don't radiate compassion and love and light spider!! baaad spider..
gooood birdy... duuuh ..duuuh... droool...



-



[edit on 23-10-2008 by prevenge]

Originally posted by Mintwithahole.
I'm the worst arachnaphobe imaginable. I run from tiny little spiders so coming face to face with that monster would give me a heart attack.
Cue several sleepless nights wondering whether that thing is under the bed!

I am with you ...I will run out of the house over a little bitty one ..and ask the neighbors to get it out of my house ...that is the biggest spider I have ever seen ..I will not be going to any country that has spiders that big ..thats for sure...

yuck ...I would rather wrestle with a bear or a snake than even see a creepy spider of any size ..

Originally posted by antar
Thats just sick, I would have saved the poor creature. I realize some people see it as 'nature' however I believe in miracles and for the bird it was a miracle a human saw what was happening and had the freewill and choice to save the bird. He may not have and just allowed the bird to suffer. I would hope as it is a familys back yard that they would teach empathy to their children by helping the bird. With mentality like that he could have placed the bird there just for the exposure.

Cry some more, a lot worse things happen in life. Ever watch the Animal Channel and the show they feature "Meerkat Manor". It's a good way to open your eyes. Everything isn't peachy "LOL SAVE THE POOR CREATURE".

What about the spider? It has to eat too.

lol some people.

Originally posted by spines
reply to post by KaginD

 

Well, then let the bird become dinner. He was obviously not the fittest.

for spider.

for bird.

I'm sorry but I am going to have to correct you terminology here, nothing personal though.

In evolution, fitness does not mean how big and strong an organism is but it has to do with an organisms reproductional potential. How likely the organism is going to reprocuce determines its fitness. The bird then, would just be the spiders prey.

Nothing personal though

By the way, I never used to have arachnophobia, but these pictures just scare the hell outta me. It seems like Australia has a ton of crazy out of this world creatures that you would only seem to find in science fiction or horror films!

I LOVE spiders, and love catching them, and observing their behavior, (I always release them). I love watching them in their natural habitats.

That spider is one beautiful creature, just an amazing specimen! I would love to have that beast in MY yard, I would protect it as much as I could. I would have liked to have seen a picture of the spider, sans bird attack. At any rate, gorgeous spider!

Pah,

The body of that 'Monster' is about 4 cm long and 'she' is just packing some lunch up for the kids.

(Males are only about 1cm long)

If she had already bitten the bird then there would be a fair chance of birdie death no matter what good Samaritans think or intend.

Orb weaver venom is a standard combo of Glutamatergic and Cholinergic (non-reversible receptor blocking) neuromuscular toxins.

Effectively it stops neural signals reaching muscles and paralyses the host acting on both skeletal and smooth muscle types. Consequently the diaphragm of the animal shuts down resulting in death by asphyxiation.

(So... whereas someone may have been willing to remove the bird from the spider, all they would have achieved would be letting it die somewhere else)

And....

No!
She's no danger to humans.

Golden orb weavers (Nephila plumipes - harmless) are not wandering spiders (Phoneutria fera - um, not your friend) though both are commonly referred to as banana spiders.

Good Lord. Look at your source. These are the same people who tried to convince the UK that camel spiders were over 1 foot in size and so named because they were reputed to attack camels!

As for the morality of 'letting' the bird die or 'freeing' it from the spider (as if it was really up to the observer).

I appreciate your conviction and applaud the standpoint of compassion, but I seriously hope you don't come face to face with nature as it actually is. Predators don't live by worrying about the hurt feelings of their lunch.

A tad harsh, but sorry, that's just the way it is. Aggression isn't a human construct and if they did not act with a hunting aggression you'd be standing in a field now, owned by your cats..

I have tons of the huge beasts on my property, have considered taking pictures and bringing them over. I love spiders too as all animals and strange insects (except those pictures of the ones in Iraq, eu).

I cant help think of advanced alien species which I have encountered in this life through my love of nature and how most of you never will because of what you harbor in your hearts. They avoid humans for the most part. Is it because they do not want to? No its because your not evolved yet, too unpredictable and dangerous, contaminated souls.

You can justify anyway you choose, yet nature is no less a part of my choice to help some animals survive when I happen across a situation where I can help than what would have happened if I had not come across their path.

If I was starving animals would offer themselves to me. I would accept, but for now, no thanks I certainly cant eat flesh, its tainted and sick. Cattle abductions? Just testing them as they test our water from the contamination, our atmosphere from pollution.

I am part of nature and as I said, I just could not walk away. I had a calling. Hate me for it, or not I am not concerned with your reflections.

Remember the power to heal is the power to kill. Same phenomena, just the opposite end of the spectrum, I may be a healer for some and yet am capable of the ultimate act of selflessness too to alleviate suffering.

Just as in my story above, while some people can drive off after injuring an animal, I took responsibility and put it out of its misery. I would have saved the bird if it was possible and the spider would have munched on some mice to keep them out of my house. It is a symphony, it is my connection to nature.

reply to post by antar


as much as i respect you for your compassion, i think you need to understand nature, nature is neither good nor bad sometimes there are things we just need to accept and accept that nature knows what it is doing.

e.g

this is a true story that happened to me and i still have massive guilt attacks over.

i was in a boat with 2 of my friends the day/night before we had heavy rains and flooding as we were cruising along my friend pointed out something odd in the water we went over to investigate and it was a kangaroo still alive, now its about 400-500 meters back to dry land and this kangaroo really looked like it was struggling so in our wisdom we came to the conclusion we were going to rescue this kangaroo and take it to dry land, what we thought we were going to do with a full grown roo in our boat i dont know but we just felt that rescuing it was the right thing, anyway we tried to get the roo it panicked stopped swimming and drowned now had we left it alone it may just have made it to shore and still be alive today but because of our interference its now dead and i can still see the look on its face as it sunk.. at the time we didnt know roos can swim we believed we were doing the right thing we should have just trusted nature and let it do its thing.

AaaaaaaaaAh! AaaaaaaaaaaAh!

Oh me gosh mate, what are yah trying to do me? Ew. Where am I never ever ever in a million years for googles of money going to go? Austrailia is it?

How'd yah like to come home to one of those in your maseca bag, eh?

That's just sick and terrifying.

Thank you. Thank you so much.

reply to post by Demandred


Oh, that was a very beautiful and innocent example of nature. You 'are' part of nature, it was natural for your compassion to do what you chose to do. I love your story and hope I will always remember. I feel it.