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 . [ See Photos of the Goliath
Birdeater Spider ]
Some sources say the giant huntsman spider ,
which has a larger leg span, is bigger than the
birdeater. But the huntsman is much more
delicate than the hefty birdeater — comparing
the two would be "like comparing a giraffe to an
elephant," Naskrecki said.
The birdeater's enormity is evident from the
sounds it makes. "Its feet have hardened tips
and claws that produce a very distinct, clicking
sound, not unlike that of a horse's hooves
hitting the ground," he wrote, but "not as loud."
Prickly hairs and 2-inch fangs
When Naskrecki approached the imposing
creature in the rainforest, it would rub its hind
legs against its abdomen. At first, the scientist
thought the behavior was "cute," he said, but
then he realized the spider was sending out a
cloud of hairs with microscopic barbs on them.
When these hairs get in the eyes or other
mucous membranes, they are "extremely
painful and itchy," and can stay there for days,
he said. [ Creepy-Crawly Gallery: See Spooky
Photos of Spiders]
But its prickly hairs aren't the birdeater's only
line of defense; it also sports a pair of 2-inch-
long (5 centimeters) fangs. Although the
spider's bite is venomous, it's not deadly to
humans . But it would still be extremely painful,
"like driving a nail through your hand,"
Naskrecki said.
And the eight-legged beast has a third defense
mechanism up its hairy sleeve. The hairs on the
front of the spider's body have tiny hooks and
barbs that make a hissing sound when they rub
against each other, "sort of like pulling Velcro
apart," Naskrecki said.
Yet despite all that, the spider doesn't pose a
threat to humans. Even if it bites you, "a
chicken can probably do more damage,"
Naskrecki said.
Bird eater or mostly harmless?
Despite its name, the birdeater doesn't usually
eat birds, although it is certainly capable of
killing small mammals. "They will essentially
attack anything that they encounter," Naskrecki
said.
The spider hunts in leaf litter on the ground at
night, so the chances of it encountering a bird
are very small, he said. However, if it found a
nest, it could easily kill the parents and the
chicks, he said, adding that the spider species
has also been known to puncture and drink bird
eggs.
The spider will eat frogs and insects, but its
main prey is actually earthworms, which come
out at night when it's humid. "Earthworms are
very nutritious," Naskrecki said.
Birdeaters are not very common spiders. "I've
been working in the tropics in South America
for many, many years, and in the last 10 to 15
years, I only ran across the spider three times,"
Naskrecki.
After catching the specimen he found in
Guyana, which was female, Naskrecki took her
back to his lab to study. She's now deposited in
a museum.
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