Keyed up! Check out the report of a meeting with the huge spider-goliath

Imagine you in the middle of a forest at night, and come across a tarantula's shred that is about the size of a dog? Okay, let's say the comparison dog would be a small dog or a puppy, but the size is scary anyway!

We are talking about the giant spider spider, which is the largest in the world (you can check out a little more about it in this other article).

This meeting took place with entomologist Piotr Naskrecki during a night of research in Guyana's rainforest a few years ago, as he reported in his personal blog. At the time, Naskrecki was walking through the woods for locusts, an insect he was studying at the time.

Scare

He said that normally in his field research he walks slowly and quietly so as not to disturb any forest animals or organisms. For these night surveys, he uses a headlight, but turns it off occasionally to get a better sense of the animals around him.

And it was at one of those moments in the dark that Naskrecki intended only to hear the characteristic sounds of grasshopper wings, but eventually he heard something sizzling, moving and treading on the dry leaves under his feet. "I could clearly hear his hard feet stamping on the ground and the dried leaves crumbling under his weight, " he said.

In his peripheral vision, he realized what he thought was a large hairy rodent. It was no longer a pleasant sight, but the entomologist was used to these expeditions and small surprises.

“I turned the switch on and turned the light on to the source of the sound, expecting to see a small mammal, a skunk, a mouse perhaps. And at first even that was what I thought it was: a big hairy animal, the size of a rodent, ”said the entomologist in his account.

But the problem was when he realized that it was not a rodent, but the largest spider in the world: the Goliath ( Theraphosa blondi ). According to him, the large tarantula was about 30 centimeters! Much more than fear, the expert was ecstatic to find a creature he said was almost mythical, a kind of gem of biodiversity.

More features and about the encounter

In his blog, Naskrecki explained that Goliath spiders (also called bird-eating spiders) are simply huge for a terrestrial arthropod. In addition to the size mentioned above, they can weigh over 200 grams.

Despite their incredible size and nickname (bird eaters), it is quite difficult for them to feed on birds because, although they are capable of killing small birds, they rarely have the opportunity to do so while scouring the ground. of the night forest. But there is evidence that they can feed on bird eggs when they encounter a nest.

But most of their food comes from other insects and worms in the humid and warm habitat. Another curiosity about this amazing spider is that it is probably the only one that makes noise while walking, as its paws have hardened claws that make a very distinctive sound when they touch the ground.

Sounds and attacks

According to Naskrecki, this is not the only sound she makes: “Every time I got too close to the big tarantula, she would start rubbing her hind legs against her hairy abdomen, which I found 'cute' when I first saw it, until a cloud of stinging hair flew into my eyes and made me itch and cry for several days, ”he said.

And the entomologist had yet another problem: “If that wasn't enough, the arachnid would open its huge fangs that could pierce a rat's skull and try to poke me with its pointed instruments. And then there was a loud hissing sound. For a long time, the source of the sound was a mystery, but now we know that it is produced by some bristles on the legs, covered with microscopic hooks that scrape against each other, ”he said.

Naskrecki said that years after this first meeting with Theraphosa blondi, he was in South America again, walking in the forest of Suriname and tripped over another of these large tarantulas. But this time he just thought, "It's just one more goliath."