giant spider eats a bird?

[Blue_Tires]

I'm not going to Australia until all of the giant spiders and bees are killed DEAD


http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24540399-5009760,00.html

[Tuesday Afternoon]

1. thank you! n/t

[ghostsofgiants]

2. Holy fuck, that is terrifyingly large.

:scared:

[redqueen]

3. I wonder how fast those are...

I think they're beautiful.

[Blue_Tires]

4. you won't think it as beautiful when the spider

uses its acid venom to dissolve your mind and chew up your spinal column while you are STILL ALIVE :nuke: :scared: :hide: :tinfoilhat:

we gotta kill the giant spiders and asian wasps before they kill us -- this is the one instance where the bush doctrine will be useful...I'm not going to wait for the spiders to walk along the ocean floor and reach America

[redqueen]

6. Asian wasps?

Are they like African honey bees? Aggressive / deadly?

[Blue_Tires]

7. much, much bigger than honey bees

they are in japan, aggresive when bothered and very deadly

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_giant_hornet

there is a youtube clip of a handful of these hornets taking out a honeybee colony despite being outnumbered 100 to 1

[redqueen]

8. God almighty...

:scared:

[snooper2]

9. 1000 to 1 :)

Here ya go

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v23GFc0KG4c

[MilesColtrane]

12. Sweet Screaming Jesus

That's some real Starship Troopers shit!

:scared:

[MrCoffee]

21. Holy hell on a stick, that is the worst thing I've ever seen

Great creeping bugfuck, that's going to give me nightmares for weeks.

[redqueen]

25. Why can't those things be endangered?

Why polar bears? Why not evil devil wasps?

[Blue_Tires]

5. Ava beat me to it

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x8183028

[TZ]

10. Not just the spiders and the wasps

but the venomous snakes, the deadly jellyfish, the Great White Shark, lethal stonefish...And yet, I still want to visit Australia...:)

[pitohui]

11. well don't come to america either (the same spider lives here i've seen it)

we have the same giant orb spiders here

i have not PERSONALLY seen them catch and eat a small bird but i am convinced because of the timing and placement of webs i have seen in louisiana that they have ambitions to catch small migratory birds like hummingbirds and warblers -- not sure how often they succeed but they DEFINITELY have a dream

the males are much much smaller but the females can be HUGE

they are harmless to humans, some people keep them as pets rather than clearing them off their house

the photo in the original post is lifesize or really close to lifesize by the way (in other words the chestnut manakin is really tiny for a bird although not hummingbird tiny)

[Blue_Tires]

15. makes me feel a little better to know they are harmless

but still those giant hornets in japan must be killed

[mike_c]

13. reminds me of this pic...

[Lucian]

14. Holy crap!

:scared:

[HEyHEY]

16. I think it's a rather small bird

Cause those things don't usually get that big.




Now, a Goliath spider? That's why I don't go to Brazil.

[Blue_Tires]

17. ewwww... kill it plz kthxbye

[redqueen]

18. That doesn't look like the same spider.

http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,6313710,00.jpg

:shrug:

[pitohui]

19. it's the same spider or the same genus though

much of what you're seeing in the photo is the finch, chestnut manakin or whatever we're calling them these days

also you're seeing it from a different angle

but i've seen these guys (or gals, i guess, the large ones are the females) from a number of angles, esp. since they often put their webs up high, and i'm satisfied they're the same

[HEyHEY]

22. it is though, I googled it and what not

[redqueen]

24. Heheheh

Yeah me too... I think the one in the pic is prettier though, with it's sleek long legs.

But yeah, after seeing that it was a finch it was eating it was pretty obvious that it's not that big a spider.

[pitohui]

20. yes this is a very small bird

you can probably see them in a pet shop near you, they are also sometimes found on islands such as oahu and puerto rico

they are a small finch easy to care for in captivity

i've examined local orb spiders in their webs and while i've heard people laugh that they're trying to catch warblers/hummingbirds i remain convinced that they do have this dream, i won't claim it's their primary source of food but it does happen

just as the preying mantis w. the hummingbird is not something that would often happen but a mantis can dream, can't she?

[BreweryYardRat]

23. Probably made news more because of the species than the incident.

Goliath Bird-Eater tarantulas are perfectly capable of scarfing down birds, and they do it all the time.

Seeing a golden orb weaver do it, on the other hand, is surprising.

[FranMonet]

26. centipede eats mouse

This is one huge bug.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CL2hetqpfg&feature=related

[Dr. Strange]

27. Whoa

[midnight armadillo]

28. I'll see your spider and raise you a praying mantis

Wicked fucking awesome bug.