Piotr Naskrecki was walking in a rainforest at night in Guyana when he accidentally stumbled across the biggest spider in the world. Dubbed the Goliath “birdeater,” the giant tarantula is about the size of a puppy and is extremely good at staying hidden in the wild.
“I’ve been working in the tropics in South America for many, many years, and in the last 10 to 15 years, I only ran across the spider three times,” he said. Naskrecki captured the specimen and took it to a lab for a closer look, after which he brought it to the museum.
The species of giant spider also has numerous other peculiar characteristics.
“Its feet have hardened tips and claws that produce a very distinct, clicking sound, not unlike that of a horse’s hooves hitting the ground,” Naskrecki explained.
He also noted that when he approached the colossal tarantula, it began rubbing its abdomen with its hind legs. Initially, he thought this was just some kind of “cute” behavior until he saw what the spider was actually doing: this was actually a defense mechanism.
The irritant hairs serve a double purpose for the Goliath birdeater; females also use them to cover their eggs and protect their young. And that’s a lot of babies to protect, as according to National Geographic, females can lay between 50 and 150 eggs at one time. The little ones stay close to the mother until fully matured, and that can take up to three years.
Despite its name, the arachnid’s main diet doesn’t primarily include birds. It feeds mostly on worms and insects, but also on larger prey, such as frogs or even small mammals. The name “birdeater” was given to it after an 18th-century engraving showing another type of spider eating a hummingbird, while its scientific name is Theraphosa blondi.
Unlike other arachnids, the Goliath uses its web-making capacity not to trap food but to construct its underground lair.
Thankfully, Goliaths are not lethal to humans; though getting bitten would surely be a very painful experience. Naskrecki described it “like driving a nail through your hand.”
