A spider large enough to consume a possum is the stuff of nightmares. A photo of a giant huntsman spider consuming its mammalian prey has gone viral after being uploaded on the Australian Spiders Facebook group. Justine Latton of Tasmania, Australia, provided photos of the spider eating a pygmy possum at Mount Field Lodge, which have already been shared over 7,000 times. “I had no clue things would become so crazy, utterly insane,” she admitted.
She told the Independent that her husband was staying at the ski lodge when he noticed the giant spider with the little possum between two of its legs and took a photo of it. Ms Latton, who is originally from New Zealand, said she’s seen a number of huntsman spiders in the nearly two decades she’s been in Tasmania. “Some bl**** frightening. I despise the eight-legged guys. I’ve never seen a spider devour an animal. “I suppose that’s why it’s gotten so much attention,” she explained.
The spider, according to the Australian Museum, is a kind of long-legged tarantula that is abundant throughout Australia. The female spider has a body length of up to 0.8 inches while the male has a body length of 0.5 inches. It has a leg span of up to 5.9 inches. The spider was frequently seen dwelling under loose bark on trees, in fissures on rock walls and in logs, under boulders and slabs of bark on the ground, and on vegetation, according to the museum.
“Many kinds of huntsman spiders occasionally penetrate dwellings. They are also known for breaking inside automobiles and lurking beneath sun visors or racing over the dashboard.” The huntsman was reported to eat insects and other invertebrates. The eastern pygmy possum and the small pygmy possum live in Tasmania. The snapshot didn’t show what sort of possum the huntsman was eating. However, both are rather little. The tiny pygmy could grow to be 2.5 inches long, while the eastern pygmy could grow to be 4.3 inches long – both at least an inch shorter than the huntsman’s legspan.
