Golden Orb Sprider EATS BIRD!!

motherof3 · #1 10-24-2008, 10:28 AM

Spider eats bird

Thursday, October 23, 2008
© The Cairns Post

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.
See all the photos of the spider eating the bird
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.
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"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.
Read our exclusive story about the photographer who took these amazing images and check out The Weekend Post tomorrow for our exclusive interview and more images.

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Yum

OMG!! Hubby came home from work and showed me this. I am still skeeved out!! EWWWWWWWWWWWW Can you imagine that sucker in your house???

DEMOA · #2 10-24-2008, 10:30 AM

OMG!!! ugh! that thing is huge!!!!

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Chase · #3 10-24-2008, 10:33 AM

ewwww, spiders dont really bother me TOO much, but that one definetly would....yikes!

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Jessica · #4 10-24-2008, 10:43 AM

THAT is why I don't live in Australia.

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Decent · #5 10-24-2008, 11:26 AM

shudder

Thanks in advance for the nightmares.

Bellicose · #6 10-24-2008, 01:01 PM

We once had a spider in our Kitchen that was about 4 or 5 inches big. (The wife had me spraying bug spray all around the house the next day! Ugh) I am not afraid of spiders but, surely I really did not want to get near that one! I squashed it with a shoe.

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Sugr · #7 10-24-2008, 01:42 PM

Why, oh, why did I look at that??? I want to vomit.

motherof3 · #8 10-24-2008, 03:03 PM

Small spiders I'm fine with smooshing. I hate the ones that jump and pop when you squish them!! Hubby thought it was a riot watching me shudder when I looked at that pic first thing this morning. UGH!