Puppy-sized spider surprises scientist in rainforest

Piotr Naskrecki was taking a nighttime walk in a rainforest in Guyana, when he heard rustling as if something were creeping underfoot. A moment after he turned on his flashlight, he realized he was looking at an enormous, puppy-size spider. Known as the South American Goliath birdeater (Theraphosa blondi), the colossal arachnid is the world’s largest spider, according to Guinness World Records. Its leg span can reach up to a foot (30 centimeters), or about the size of “a child’s forearm,” with a body the size of “a large fist.”

When I turned on the light, I couldn’t quite understand what I was seeing.

Piotr Naskrecki, an entomologist and photographer at Harvard University’s Museum of Comparative Zoology

When Naskrecki approached the spider in the rainforest, it would rub its hind legs against its abdomen. At first, he thought the behavior was cute, but then he realized the spider was sending out a cloud of hairs with microscopic barbs on them. When these hairs get in the eyes or other mucous membranes, they are “extremely painful and itchy,” and can stay there for days. It also sports a pair of 2-inch-long (5 centimeters) fangs. Although the spider’s bite is venomous, it’s not deadly to humans.

A chicken can probably do more damage.

Piotr Naskrecki

Science puppy spider