Giant Chicken-Eating Spider Discovered
May 8th, 2007
Nature has a brief interview with Martin Nicholas, a water treatment plant salesman who moonlights as an expert spider hunter. Not content with discovering several new species, he travelled to Peru in search of the legendary Chicken-Eating spider, a gigantic arachnid capable of taking down a full-grown hen. What he found was a monster 10 inch black tarantula, possibly a new species. Martin says:
“It looks like when they go out at night as a group, they can catch and kill larger prey by working together.”
Cripes! I think I speak for us all when I say: “Nuke ‘em from orbit, it’s the only way to be sure”.
Entry Filed under: General
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16 Comments
1. Emma | May 8th, 2007 at 2:16 pm
HOLY JESUS!!! Just as long as the thing stays in Peru!
2. Daz | May 8th, 2007 at 4:11 pm
Coming to a bunch of bananas near you soon…
3. Silent1 | May 9th, 2007 at 4:56 am
You visit pistonheads AICM£5
Silent1 from 28DL
4. Frank the SciencePunk | May 9th, 2007 at 9:24 am
I guess you’re saying this mega-arachnid has been crawling through the Pistonheads forums too? Never been there - not much of a car fanatic, me. (No £5 for you.)
5. Ithika | May 9th, 2007 at 9:28 am
That is extremely disturbing. They’re hunting in packs now! How long before they learn how to open doors?
6. Silent1 | May 9th, 2007 at 4:51 pm
No the nuke it from orbit phrase is used a hell of a lot on PistonHeads and i thought it was a bit of subtle interjection
7. Ian | May 10th, 2007 at 11:52 am
Is it? Presumably when talking about 17 year old boy-racers in ‘hot hatches’ clogging up the roads and causing accidents. I agree, nuke them, but keep the spiders.
8. No name | February 2nd, 2008 at 7:11 pm
There are no know spiders that hunt in pacts sounds like its been made up. Secondly as far as tarantulas go they eat anything that moves especially if its in there burrow so that takes the frog living in the burrow out of the equation. That documented case must have been a freak thing. For example in the article off the frog living with the tarantula forgot to mention that the tarantula webs the burrow heavily and the frog was block into another half of the burrow the tarantula didn’t use.
9. Frank the SciencePunk | February 2nd, 2008 at 8:14 pm
[citation needed]
10. david Brent | April 28th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
it is packs not pacts
11. stuart | July 15th, 2008 at 11:09 am
Well… these ones DO live in packs for sure (thanks for the spelling david), which makes them unusal among tarantulas. But, the facts are the facts. As for the communal frog, well also unusual, but other invertebrates are known to live in tarantula burrow (scorpions, whip spiders, millipedes), so why not vertebrate frogs? Frogs often secrete toxins in the skin making them distateful, so i can see why the spiders would not eat the frogs, and furthermore the frogs might eat small parasitic insects like flies and wasps that could harm the spider.
So, to whoever wrote comment 8, open your eyes to the wonder and diversity of nature, the world is full of the unexpected !!!
P.s. I have been a professional biologist for 20+ yrs, and i still get surprised by new discoveries, as do all professionals !!
12. stuart | July 15th, 2008 at 11:11 am
p.s.
Why be so hateful to these spiders… they keep the roaches and flies in check, doing a great service for pest control.
Please try to give them credit.
13. Frank the SciencePunk | July 15th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
It’s more a respectful fear and awe than actual hatred…
14. Brian | July 16th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Be careful….it’ll have your arm off!
15. Anoop | July 17th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
I’m sure a little cinnamon and honey (or was it the other way around?) will keep the damn-dirty-archnos away!!! : )
You might need to mix it with some essence of slug, I’ll post the recipe once I get it from my friend’s aunt who is a real doctor.
16. sally | July 21st, 2008 at 7:18 am
what the hell are chickens doin in the jungle, wat came 1st chicken or egg, or the spider n ow many legs do they have and do they harm mankind, and is there anything that can kill a chicken eatin spider except a foot write back asap coz mi uncle margret needs 2 no coz her bottom is the size of a walnut xx
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