Goliath Encounter: Puppy-Sized Spider Surprises Scientist in Rainforest

[Shadow]

EEEKKK

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Piotr Naskrecki was taking a nighttime walk in a rainforest in Guyana, when he heard rustling as if something were creeping underfoot. When he turned on his flashlight, he expected to see a small mammal, such as a possum or a rat.





"When I turned on the light, I couldn't quite understand what I was seeing," said Naskrecki, an entomologist and photographer at Harvard University's Museum of Comparative Zoology.
A moment later, he realized he was looking not at a brown, furry mammal, but an enormous, puppy-size spider.


Known as the South American Goliath birdeater (Theraphosa blondi), the colossal arachnid is the world's largest spider, according to Guinness World Records. Itsleg span can reach up to a foot (30 centimeters), or about the size of "a child's forearm," with a body the size of "a large fist," Naskrecki told Live Science. And the spider can weigh more than 6 oz. (170 grams) — about as much as a young puppy, the scientist wrote on his blog.

[fj1200]

I came across a scorpion in the kitchen of a house I was renting in AL last weekend. To my horror I learned that scorpions do live where I live.

[Shadow]

NM actually has Tarantulas that migrate during certain times of the year. Luckily not anywhere near me. However ...I have a cousin in Roswell that would find them in the yard and used to trap them under coffee cans ...then make her husband deal with them when he got off work . He wasn't pleased.

[fj1200]

^Land of Enchantment my A**!!! Enchantment shouldn't have scorpions and tarantulas.

[Shadow]

Speaking of spiders....(enough to give you nightmares)


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Spider burrows into man's chest, stays there 3 days

Bali's tourist bureau will not be eager to share this story: A tropical spider burrowed into the skin of an Australian tourist and stayed there for three days before doctors finally figured out what was causing the nasty marks on his chest, reports the NT News of Australia.


Dylan Thomas woke up Saturday morning with an angry red scar about 2 inches long extending up from his navel. That night, it was 3 inches longer.


He went to a doctor on Sunday and was given a cream to deal with what was believed to be an insect bite. It didn't help, and painful red blisters came next.
On Monday, doctors called in a dermatologist, who finally figured out what was happening and plucked the spider from his skin. "It wasn't really a tickling sensation, obviously once the venom started to affect my skin it was a really burning sensation like a searing feeling," Thomas, 21, told a radio station, according to WAToday.


The best guess is that the spider got inside Thomas' skin via a scar from a recent appendectomy. "It takes a lot to deter me, but I do feel violated," says Thomas

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/1...-there-3-days/

[Shadow]

^Land of Enchantment my A**!!! Enchantment shouldn't have scorpions and tarantulas.

Awe...dey is little and don't take up much room

[fj1200]

Awe...dey is little and don't take up much room

But puppies and kitties are too and actually ARE enchanting.

[Shadow]

But puppies and kitties are too and actually ARE enchanting.

Got those too. Although one of them is kinda big... but he does love to hold hands soo...

[LongTermGuy]

I came across a scorpion in the kitchen of a house I was renting in AL last weekend. To my horror I learned that scorpions do live where I live.

`Live and learn...I don't care for them either....especially spiders...