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bassexpander
Joined: 13 Sep 2007
Location: Someplace you'd rather be.
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 Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 7:46 am Post subject: Giant spider eats bird |
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http://tools.cairns.com.au/photo_gallery/photo_gallery_popup.php?category_id=3825&offset=2
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THIS amazing image of a mammoth spider devouring a bird was taken in the backyard of a property near Cairns.
The image, which is being cirulated via email worldwide, is real, according to wildlife experts, The Cairns Post reported.
The photo, believed to have been taken earlier this week, shows the spider clenching its legs around a lifeless bird trapped in a web at a property near Atherton, west of Cairns.
Joel Shakespeare, the head spider keeper at NSW's Australian Reptile Park, has told ninemsn 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 said 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 told ninemsn 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 said.
See more pictures at The Cairns Post. |
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PeteJB
Joined: 06 Jul 2007
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| Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 9:05 am Post subject: |
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| Never eat anything bigger than your own head. It's very bad for you. |
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bluelake
Joined: 01 Dec 2005
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| Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 4:18 pm Post subject: |
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| Slightly OT. Did you ever see the bird called a kea? It developed a habit of jumping on the back of sheep and eating their kidneys. You can find YouTubes on it. |
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prideofidaho
Joined: 19 Mar 2008
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| Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 4:52 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks. I had a nightmare about this last night, and now I'm sure to continue to be horrified by that damned spider.  |
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blackjack
Joined: 04 Jan 2006
Location: anyang
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| Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 4:54 pm Post subject: |
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| bluelake wrote: |
| Slightly OT. Did you ever see the bird called a kea? It developed a habit of jumping on the back of sheep and eating their kidneys. You can find YouTubes on it. |
This is not entirely true. It is largely a myth, which farmers use to justify shooting them. In the same way that falcons and hawks were blamed.
While kea have been found to have attacked very sick, dying or dead sheep there has never been a recorded case of a healthy sheep being attacked. The sheep in that you tube video is very sick, and I am guessing that whole video has been orchestrated |
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cj1976
Joined: 26 Oct 2005
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| Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 9:06 pm Post subject: |
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| Is it a really big spider, or just a really small bird? I hope it's the latter because I hate spiders. |
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bassexpander
Joined: 13 Sep 2007
Location: Someplace you'd rather be.
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| Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 10:09 pm Post subject: |
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Big spider, and not a small bird, either! The bird reminded me of what Hannibal Lecter did to that one cop in Silence of the Lambs.
Yuck! |
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cangel
Joined: 19 Jun 2003
Location: Jeonju, S. Korea
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| Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2008 6:05 am Post subject: |
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| Just another reason why Australia isn't high on my list of places to visit... I know it's a gorgeous country but half the stuff there can kill you! I'd be too paranoid to do anything... OK, I am exaggerating a bit but this is some nasty, scary sh*t! |
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