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Giant Spiders Invade Australian Outback Town

Posted by samzenpus on from the welcome-to-my-sleepout-said-the-spider-to-the-bloke dept.

youth68 writes "Australia is known around the world for its large and deadly creepy crawlies, but even locals have been shocked by the size of the giant venomous spiders that have invaded an Outback town in Queensland. Scores of eastern tarantulas, which are known as 'bird-eating spiders' and can grow larger than the palm of a man's hand, have begun crawling out from gardens and venturing into public spaces in Bowen, a coastal town about 700 miles northwest of Brisbane."

4 of 373 comments (clear)

  1. Story overhyped by Media by CuteSteveJobs · · Score: 5, Informative

    Story sounds like typical Media hype and exaggeration: Tarantulas are venomous in the way all spiders are venomous (and Bee's too! Venomous Bees == normal Bees.) This type of spider venom isn't harmful to humans and they're not aggressive spiders. This is why they let them crawl over kids at Wildlife parks. Oh BTW despite calling them bird-eating spiders it's rare for them to eat birds. Plus if you did into the article you'll see the unlabeled scale of that photo is centimeters and not inches. 5 centmetres. I have wolf spiders > 10 cm running around and often through my home. They're shy of people, never even came close to being bitten and they eat cockroaches.

    If they're having a "spider plague" in Bowen then there must be lots of roaches, locusts or other insects. Let them be.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarantula

    This shock story will get web hits and the reporter will get a pat on the back. But ll note the COUGH COUGH journalist didn't even bother talking to anyone from the local University; Just the local "Pest Controller" who is trying to whip up business. They're probably Wolf spiders anyway, not "Bird Eaters". The media should stop trying to whip this up and go back to what they do best: Reporting false wiki quotes by Jean-Michel Jarre.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_spider

  2. Re:Not that big, or that venomous. by SpazmodeusG · · Score: 5, Informative

    They're only 6 inches

    CENTIMETERS!!!!
    They are 6 CENTIMETERS! We Australians were one of the first to convert to metric and that's a metric ruler in the article.

    /Just in case you thought this article had any worthyness whatsoever.

  3. Re:Think of the children! by Matt_R · · Score: 5, Informative

    That's because it's been blown out of proportion - http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/qld-news/web-of-lies-uk-press-plays-up-queensland-spider-invasion-20090508-ax58.html

  4. Re:Fuck your fucking spiders! by martin-boundary · · Score: 5, Informative

    Yes some might bite you, but there are far greater dangers out there.

    Dropbears.

    Dropbears are pretty damn dangerous. You can walk around, minding your own business, and then suddenly.

    POW.

    Another dropbear victim. They disappear as fast as they appear. Nobody is safe.

    Nobody.