The problem with Australia

Chris Maunder

Awww - that one's just a baby!

cheers, Chris Maunder

Roger Wright

is that it's upside down and mostly drunk. Where can I get one of those spiders? I think it might solve my pigeon problem. :-D

"A Journey of a Thousand Rest Stops Begins with a Single Movement"

Paul Watson

Yes, yes it is[^]... :|

cheers, Paul M. Watson.

Maximilien

I'm not gonna sleep for a few days now. Spiders are the bane of my existence.

This signature was proudly tested on animals.

Super Lloyd

Apparently around Cairns there are some spiders with ultra strong web, or so I have been told. Never met any though... The coolest spider I met was a Huntsman! I didn't know about them, and one day there was one on the wall when I turned my head. About 20 cm wide with the leg, in my study room. Talk about a surprise!!! But they are good gys! ;)

A train station is where the train stops. A bus station is where the bus stops. On my desk, I have a work station.... _________________________________________________________ My programs never have bugs, they just develop random features.

Paul Watson

You mean it ate a baby. Crikey moses, keep those things from spreading folks!

cheers, Paul M. Watson.

Lost User

S'just a small one! We get these (Golden Orb Spiders) in our yard sometimes - the web is REAL strong (and golden - looks nice with the morning sun shining through it) Sometimes you walk through a single strand of web which is attached to the branch of a tree and, no kidding, the tree bends before the web breaks - it's tough stuff. Never seen them eat a bird, though.

Take a chill pill, Daddy-o .\\axxx (That's an 'M')

Andrew Pearson

Was going to say it looks like an oversized orb spider. Would have to be one of the stickiest webs, takes ages to get it off you if you run into one. I can understand why the bird is firmly stuck.

Kr0d

I guess someone's pet spider got off its leash. Its so cute though.

Lost User

... is obviously avian over population :)

Hewie_007

That sure is one big spider. They aren't everywhere though, thank goodness :) I live in Australia and we don't have any of them down this way (don't think that type of spider lives down here...) I think they grow where it's warmer - that's up towards the North of Australia where it's closer to the equator (for those that aren't up on their Geography :) ) Would hate to walk through their web though! Might get stuck! :)

steve gregory

I live in Queensland, Australia where this photo was taken. Everyone's been quite surprised by the worldwide attention it's received. I can remember the first time I saw one of those spiders, it made a web outside our back door, and I remember coming out at night and it seriously looked like a crab in a web. My Dad ended up hitting it with a spade, and even then I think he was a bit nervous about it.

Macca

Well, the thing is that it's not the big spiders that you need to be wary of. They're generally harmless (even those Huntsman spiders the size of your open hand that crawl up the wall above your bed...). It's generally the smaller spiders that you need to look out for. They're the ones that can kind of kill you and have a tendency to crawl into your shoes if you leave them outside at night. Anyway, it's not just the spiders you have to watch out for[^]...

Aidan Hodges

I live in Cairns and I've never seen one that big before, although we do get some big ones every now and then. Its not really the spiders that you have to watch for its the snakes - which are seen even less. I remember reading somewhere that of the Top 10 most poisonous snakes in the world, something like 7 were found in Australia - and a fair ammount of those in Queensland too.

Kizul Emeraldfire

Everything in Australia can be classified into three groups: * Venomous * Sheep * All of the above. :-D *ahem* On a slightly more serious note, anyone see a movie called Eight-Legged Freaks lately? :)

Zhat

Unlucky... Dead... Lunch/Dinner/Supper... :laugh:

Kent K

Geesus, that gave me a major case of the heebie jeebies there, for a second. . . .and I'm not really scared of spiders. Thanks, I'm kicking the mountain dew lately and that helped wake me up a bit! On some site linked by someone else I think in the replies I got to see pics of a leopard getting the upper hand on a croc, and a heron eating a little rabbit too! :-)

T Mac Oz

Aidan Hodges wrote:

of the Top 10 most poisonous snakes in the world, something like 7 were found in Australia

I thought it was 8, & definitely 4 of the top 5 (if I remember correctly, 3 of the top 5 spiders as well). Just quietly though, I think we cheated in those snake stats a bit, several of them belong to the same family (Taipan - including the No. 1. ranked Fierce Snake).

T-Mac-Oz "When I'm ruler of the universe ... I'm working on it, I'm working on it. I'm just as frustrated as you are. It turns out to be a non-trivial problem." - Linus Torvalds

T Mac Oz

Where are you based that you get Huntsmen that big but never see any Golden Orb Weavers?

T-Mac-Oz "When I'm ruler of the universe ... I'm working on it, I'm working on it. I'm just as frustrated as you are. It turns out to be a non-trivial problem." - Linus Torvalds

T Mac Oz

leppie wrote:

Bonus points if you can identify it.

That'd be a Golden Orb Weaver, but dammit, someone's already posted a link to a news article that named it so I guess no bonus points for me! My guess is that it's a fairly small bird that got caught. Largest one of those spiders I've seen was about 20-25cm in total (with legs splayed vertically, they don't really do the out-to-the-side thing), with a body about half-again the size of a typical man's thumb. They're not dangerous, just really scary-looking and super annoying if you walk into a strand of their web (very tough stuff).

T-Mac-Oz "When I'm ruler of the universe ... I'm working on it, I'm working on it. I'm just as frustrated as you are. It turns out to be a non-trivial problem." - Linus Torvalds