The picture above may be a little difficult to understand. So, let me tell you what you are seeing: It is the picture of a spider eating a bird! Yes. You read that correctly. And it is real! No photoshop involved here! A spider eating a bird!
The incident took place in the backyard of a property near Cairns, Australia.
The photo, believed to have been taken earlier this week, shows the spider clenching its legs around a lifeless bird trapped in a web at a property near Atherton, west of Cairns.
Joel Shakespeare, the head spider keeper at NSW’s Australian Reptile Park, said the spider was a golden orb weaver. “Normally they prey on large insects, it’s unusual to see one eating a bird,” he said. Shakespeare said he had seen golden orb weaver spiders as big as a human hand but the northern species in tropical areas were known to grow larger.
Shakespeare said the bird, a chestnut-breasted mannikin which appears frozen in an angel-like pose in the pictures, is likely to have flown into the web and got caught.
Okay folks, enough is enough. Time for some extra strength spider killer! I feel pretty much about spiders as I do about snakes: The best snake is a dead snake! My father always told me as a child to find out what kind of snake it was before killing it. My answer to my dad was, “Dad, after I kill it I know what kind of snake it is—a dead one!”
What would you do if you came into your backyard and saw a spider eating a bird? (After running inside to grab your camera and circulate the picture on the Internet, of course.)
NIGHTMARES!!!! I hate spiders MORE than snakes unless they are tinier than a piece of dust.
ReplyDeleteHeidi
Snakes are first for me, then spiders would be a close second...other than that, bugs don't bother me...but let's kill all of the snakes and spiders and worry about PETA later!
ReplyDeleteI would send my wife to go kill it!!!
ReplyDeleteJust kidding. I think.
I'm with you. Snakes and spiders are the worst. I will go out of my way to kill them.
As for what I would I do in this situation, I would prolly grab a chainsaw or something equally menacing (ok maybe just a stick). I don't want there to be any chance that that thing escapes.
P.S. I got the chills after looking at the picture too long.
Well, I'd definitely have to kill it... Hubby no likey little spiders let alone giants like that one!
ReplyDeleteI might even use the heels I have on today to do so... 5 inches from the top of the back of my shoe to the bottom and 1 inch across main part of heel. lol
Michael...a man after my own heart! There is no such thing as overkill with spiders and snakes!
ReplyDeleteMy theory is to kill them and then kill them again!
Camey, are you having height issues today? Are low flying planes swerving to miss you up there?
ReplyDeleteI started to link you to the thread that is going about these pictures on the photography website I hang out at. Just suffice it to say that one of the Australian members has these beast around his house. He said that they tend to build their web at face level between the hedges at his house. He doesn't go out without a "torch" at night because of them.
ReplyDeleteThink about that the next time you walk through a spider web.
>shudders< (Shuford trivia -- my 8 yo nephew has a tarantula named shudder).
Karma...thanks for NOT linking me! That photo gave me the creeps!!! And, I'm not sure I really want to know more about it! :)
ReplyDeletePlus...if I faced that when I went into my back yard...I'd move!!! Today!