hope this isnt old, i've searched all over the place.

http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2008/10/23/11601_local-news.html
http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2008/10/24/11745_local-news.html
http://tools.cairns.com.au/photo_gallery/photo_gallery_popup.php?category_id=3825&offset=4


THESE amazing images of a mammoth spider devouring a bird were taken in the backyard of an Atherton property, west of Cairns.

And the images, which are being cirulated via email worldwide, are real, according to wildlife experts.

The photos, believed to have been taken earlier this week, show the spider clenching its legs around a lifeless bird trapped in a web.

Joel Shakespeare, the head spider keeper at NSW's Australian Reptile Park, told ninemsn that the spider was a Golden Orb Weaver.

"Normally they prey on large insects, it's unusual to see one eating a bird," he said.

Mr Shakepeare told ninemsn 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.

Mr 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.

"It wouldn`t eat the whole bird," he told ninemsn.

"It uses its venom to break down the bird for eating and what it leaves is a food parcel," he said.

Queensland Museum's Greg Czechura is reported ninemsn as saying cases of the Golden Orb Weaver eating small birds were "well known but rare".

"It builds a very strong web," he told ninemsn.

But he said the spider would not have attacked until the bird weakened due to its struggle to free its wings.

"The more they struggle, the more tangled up and exhausted they get and they go into stress."

"If a spider gets a bird, it`s a very lucky spider," Mr Czechura said.

10/24/2008 3:10:25 PM

damn Australia is no joke

10/24/2008 3:11:10 PM

i know the pics have been (randomly) posted, but i haven't seen the story and all

10/24/2008 3:11:57 PM

AWESOME

10/24/2008 3:12:13 PM

NSFW SON!

WHERE THE FUCK IS OmarBadu?!

10/24/2008 3:12:46 PM

poor birdie

10/24/2008 3:12:52 PM

i love spiders

but fuck that kind

10/24/2008 3:13:18 PM

omg

10/24/2008 3:13:25 PM

I'm not going to sleep for like a week

10/24/2008 3:14:28 PM

Oh God...I just got the puking shutter. I don't know why I do this to myself.

10/24/2008 3:14:43 PM

HOW MUCH WOULD IT COST US TO GET ONE OF THESE?

I WANT TO PUT AT LEAST ONE UNDER THE COVERS OF NCSUGirl83'S AND Skwinkle'S BEDS SON.

[Edited on October 24, 2008 at 3:15 PM. Reason : ]

10/24/2008 3:15:10 PM

I for one welcome our new bird eating spider overlords.


That's what they get for shittin on my car.

10/24/2008 3:15:33 PM

thats awesome

do you think that spider could eat a thickburger ?

10/24/2008 3:18:07 PM

*AHEM*

HOW MUCH WOULD IT COST US TO GET ONE OF THESE?

I WANT TO PUT AT LEAST ONE UNDER THE COVERS OF NCSUGirl83'S AND Skwinkle'S BEDS SON.

10/24/2008 3:20:00 PM

that is awesome!

10/24/2008 3:20:11 PM

10/24/2008 3:22:09 PM

I really, truly think I would drop dead if I saw that in my bed.

10/24/2008 3:26:07 PM

IT'S ALREADY BEEN ARRANGED MY SON.

10/24/2008 3:29:16 PM

Quote :

"I really, truly think I would drop dead if I saw that in my bed."

10/24/2008 3:33:59 PM

Quote :

"I really, truly think I would drop dead if I saw that in my bed."

10/24/2008 3:40:32 PM

KILL IT WITH FIRE

10/24/2008 3:44:26 PM

*AHEM*

HOW MUCH WOULD IT COST US TO GET ONE OF THESE?

I WANT TO PUT AT LEAST ONE UNDER THE COVERS OF NCSUGirl83'S AND Skwinkle'S BEDS SON.

10/24/2008 3:45:54 PM

i would burn my house down

10/24/2008 3:46:20 PM

fuck, now we have to nuke australia.

10/24/2008 4:17:28 PM

FUCK THAT

10/24/2008 4:20:21 PM

can anyone ID the spider?


It's completely creepy to me, not because it's feasting on a bird, but because the spider itself is proportionally GINORMOUS compared to some more common spiders we see around NC. I wouldn't think twice if it were a Tarantula of sorts, but this thing screams "shitty B-rated movie prop"


GOLDEN ORB WEAVER

Here's some variants for scale:







[Edited on October 24, 2008 at 4:33 PM. Reason : -]

10/24/2008 4:28:17 PM

it's mentioned in the article

10/24/2008 4:29:50 PM

FUCK

THAT

SHIT

10/24/2008 4:31:14 PM

^ GOOD, NOW GO SUCK YOUR BALLS IN THE CORNER METRO.

10/24/2008 4:33:13 PM

Quote :

"Mr Shakepeare told ninemsn 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. "

10/24/2008 4:37:12 PM

i wanna see the video

10/24/2008 4:37:40 PM

Quote :

" I don't know why I do this to myself. "

that's the same thing I thought when I clicked on this thread

10/24/2008 4:45:11 PM

OMNOMNOMNOM

10/24/2008 5:05:33 PM

that shit is not cool.

10/24/2008 5:09:02 PM

dude, we've got the golden silk spiders, like the last one pictured (fuzzy knees), common here where i work in the SC lowcountry. the webs on those things are no joke, if you run into one of the main strands, that shit will clothesline your ass (and i dont know for sure, but i think they have some of the strongest, if not THE strongest webbing of all spiders).

i would hate to be bitten by one of those fuckers, but i still think they're pretty amazing.

10/24/2008 5:55:41 PM

Damn. Those spiders are serious business.

10/24/2008 5:58:46 PM

GOD I HATE MOTHERFUCKING SPIDERS

[Edited on October 24, 2008 at 6:00 PM. Reason : .]

10/24/2008 6:00:17 PM

Don't some spiders eat fish?

10/24/2008 6:05:20 PM

Quote :

"I just got the puking shutter"

Me too! Chills all over.

I do wonder if the spder killed the bird, or if the bird died and the spider got it.

Quote :

"the webs on those things are no joke, if you run into one of the main strands, that shit will clothesline your ass"

I think I'd shit my pants! I would think those hillbillies from Wrong Turn done found me.

Honestly, I think I would smash that spider. I try not to do that often... but actually, I wouldn't smash it! I would shoot that thing with my .22!

[Edited on October 24, 2008 at 6:07 PM. Reason : ]

10/24/2008 6:06:32 PM

fuck a .22 i'd have a shotgun pointed at that damn thing

10/24/2008 6:08:37 PM

YEAH SON, I THINK A 2 3/4" 12 GAUGE BIRDSHOT SHELL FIRED FROM A MOSSBERG 590 WOULD DO IT.

10/24/2008 6:10:21 PM

Well, I don't typically have a shotgun in the woods... but I would take my deer rifle to that thing. I'd get the bow after it if i had to.

(For me, shotguns and handguns go to the field; rifles, bows, long rifles, and handguns go to the woods.)

^ Buckshot slug would be fine with me!

[Edited on October 24, 2008 at 6:12 PM. Reason : ]

10/24/2008 6:10:52 PM

sweet dreams are made of these

10/24/2008 10:21:55 PM

That's hood.

10/24/2008 10:25:29 PM

Must've been one fucking hell of a web.

10/24/2008 10:28:01 PM

I now have a case of what I like to call "The heebie-jeebies."

10/24/2008 11:53:54 PM

Quote :

"fuck, now we have to nuke australia"

10/24/2008 11:58:33 PM

I just don't see a spider being that big unless the bird is humming-bird sized.

10/25/2008 12:01:56 AM

theres an orb weaver in my backyard about the size of a cell phone. Ill catch grass hoppers while doing yard work and toss them in its web

10/25/2008 12:07:09 AM

Finch's are pretty tiny birds . . .

10/25/2008 12:10:07 AM