Canada You guys have BIG spiders!!!!

Big bugs... they're scary...

This story reminds me of the roaches I encountered in Nicaragua some years ago. They were actually tough creatures. Hard to killl! It was like stepping on a pebble or something.

I cannot recall an explanation I read some time ago, about why bugs and other invertebrates used to reach gigantic sizes in the past. Something having to do with atmospherica pressure... Thanks for posting about this "internet sensation." I guess I'm not online long enough... :)
 
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am just going to bed and will have nightmares now!!
 
haha you think thats bad, you should check out or kiwi grasshoppers (called weta!)..the largest insect in the world!
 

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I remember these from a marvelous comic strip called Footrot Flats, where one of the guys ate them. I think I feel sick!!!
A relative in NZ sent me books of these cartoons, my grandkids now have them and love them. I think the guy was called Cooch or something like that.
 
i have no idea if that photo is doctored since i pulled it off the net, but i doubt it, island effects have allowed our wildlife to grow to sizes that is unheard of. I have played with tree weta which is half the size but that speice in the photo is the giant weta which is mostly confined to offshore islands due to introduced mammalian predators. We didnt have mice until 500 years or so so it is believe that these insects occupied the mouse niche. Many ecologists and biologist believe that the weta is approaching the physical limits of insects.

Im glad that someone overseas loves footrot flats as much as i did!
 
We have big snakes, too...

We have big snakes, too...

Fortunately this guy lives no-where near suburbia!

Look closely at what he's eating, that will help with the scale.

What's that Skip? A snake tried to swallow you?
 

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Reminds me of this.......

health_bar_spider.jpg






hehe...
 
Amazing creatures! Some day I want to go to Australia and New Zealand, but I can't afford it at the moment. The only place I can afford visiting is Zealandia, Saskatchewan. No spider, crocks, or snakes there, just elk, deer, geese and moose. And, in another week, snow. (The photo is not mine)


Zealandia.jpg
 
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I went to see all of the pictures and my first question is WHY IS THAT MAN SMILING? They say there are more things that can kill a man (or woman) down under than anywhere else in the world. I lived with roaches in NYC, not that much of a problem. But spiders like that, I'd either be moving or messing with nature and buying a 12 gauge pump action just in case the first shot only winged it.

This world continues to surprise me.

My son loves this stuff thanks guys.

B2 (;->
 
It's not as brutal as you guys in the US think. That size spider doing something that weird I've never seen before. The bird eating spider doesn't actually usually eat birds, but it can do occasionally. The biggest spider I've seen here would have been about 17cm across (bout 6.5 inches) but you very rarely see them that size. They don't really come out during the day or anything, they tend to hang out in dark messy corners in sheds and in leaf litter... things like that. I've been bitten by a small non venomous spider before and it really wasn't too bad. Bites are really pretty uncommon.

Snakes are the same, you basically almost never see them because they're so frightened of humans. Even if you're standing 2 feet away from a venomous full grown snake they'll 90% of the time bail out and slither away unless they have young or have reason to believe that you're trying to attack them. We had a wonderful green tree snake living in our garage recently with it's family, and they occasionally popped their heads out to see what was going on. It's just like having birds or squirrels or racoons outside your house. Obviously you can provoke them and they'll defend themselves, but they're just trying to make it through the day like everyone else.

I've got friends that will literally let huntsman spiders crawl over their hands, pick them up, and play around with them. As long as you're passive and non threatening they mind their own business. I won't touch spiders myself though..

Spider_Dads_hand.JPG

(not my pic)
 
I don't know if I should have opened this thread right before bedtime. The dreams are going to be really good tonight!
 
fdigital said:
Snakes are the same, you basically almost never see them because they're so frightened of humans. Even if you're standing 2 feet away from a venomous full grown snake they'll 90% of the time bail out and slither away unless they have young or have reason to believe that you're trying to attack them.
Click to expand...

Yep pretty much they keep away from us.

The black snakes look fearsome especially the red-bellies, but they're very interested in avoiding people. Step on them to wake them up and it's a little different, of course.

Browns are a different story... on a hot day when they're fired up, they must be one of the most aggreseive angry creatures on the planet.

On my single encounter with a tiger snake, literally face-to-face, he was more surprised than me (!!) and he backed off. Whew...
 
Or, wouldn't this wake you up!!!

It's a real photo from a magazine, not doctored apparently.

Whites have a fascination with surf ski's it seems. Right before a fatal attack in Perth a few years back, the guys on ski's were getting 'buzzed' by a big one, just a little way off the beach.

I think you find whites in South Africa, and California/Mexico too, they're not uniquely Australian.
 

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The most dangerous animals we have here are drunks on a Friday night, a bucket load of these huntsmen thrown into the door of the pub might sort them out!!!
gives me an idea*-)))
 
A guy I know used to live in New Guinea when he was a teenager & he told me they had spiders there that looked like the bird eating spider in the first shot. The New Guineans used to eat the spiders. He said that quite often he would be talking to a local & they would spot one of the spiders in a tree, grab it, pull its legs off & eat the rest right there. They said they were delicious but my friend could never bring himself to try them.
 
MichaelW said:
A guy I know used to live in New Guinea when he was a teenager & he told me they had spiders there that looked like the bird eating spider in the first shot. The New Guineans used to eat the spiders. He said that quite often he would be talking to a local & they would spot one of the spiders in a tree, grab it, pull its legs off & eat the rest right there. They said they were delicious but my friend could never bring himself to try them.
Click to expand...

We have the deadly one (funnel web) but other countries have bigger, that's for sure.

Best spider I ever saw was on tv... somewhere in the amazon jungle, disguised to blend in with the leaf-litter... when the little monkeys came down to play/eat on the forest floor, it ate one... think monkey under 12", not a gorilla or anything.

Those tv crews must be filming for years to get the shots they get, amazing!!
 
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