Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Worlds Biggest Spider:Goliath Bird Eating Tarantula

goliath spider, world's biggest spider
Door Snakecollector [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

The World's biggest spider is the Goliath bird eating Tarantula, Theraphosa blondi.

The scientific name comes from the Greek word "thera" and "phosa", what means wild animal and light. The most common name "Goliath bird eating Tarantula" was given by some explores from the Victorian era who witnessed one eating a hummingbird and reported the sighting to the Western world who were amazed about this gigantic spider.

The Goliath bird eating Tarantula is native to the rain forest regions of northern South America. It can reach a leg span of 30 centimeters or 12 inches with a weight that lays between 100 and 120 grams. These birdeaters usually live in dark holes that were made by themselves or other animals like mouses.

The average life span of the female Goliath spider lays between 15 and 20 years, but males who die soon after maturity can only reach an age between 3 and 6 years. The color of this big spider is mostly dark to light brown with thousands of hairs on their body.

This spider seems dangerous, but is totally harmless for humans. However they do carry venoums fangs of about 1 to 2 centimeters. A bite of the Goliath Bird Eating Tarantula can be compared with a wasp's sting that is totally harmless, but painfull.




A great video about the tarantula!

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