Jump to content
Join the Unexplained Mysteries community today! It's free and setting up an account only takes a moment.
- Sign In or Create Account -

Are Giant Spiders A Monstrous Myth?


Still Waters

Recommended Posts

Monstrous spiders of gargantuan size are perennially popular subjects in science fiction 'B' movies as well as in classic fantasy novels such as J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit, but could such beasts exist in reality? The current record-holder for the title of world's largest spider is Rosi - a 12-year-old captive female specimen of South America's goliath bird-eating spider.

http://karlshuker.bl...us-myth-or.html

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

The only gargantuan spider that is fine by me is this little girl and that is because she won't bite ...despite being 50 feet tall.

spider_a_zps2acbce6d.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Spiders have been demonised thanks to nursery rhymes such as Little Miss Muffet.

Consider the cute sweetie spiders like Charlotte in Charlotte's Web and Miss Spider as fiction. Heroic spiderlike people such as Spiderman and Spider woman. Or the cosmic goddess spiders like the wise Spider Grandmother belief in Amerind folklore and beliefs. J.K. Rowling and Tolkien are some of the best writers of modern fairytale but they've not helped arachnophobia with their scary evil spiders.

Real spiders are like this:

http://picsandstuff.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/jumping-spider.jpg

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have always been fascinated by spiders. Now snakes, you can have them....

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd find a way to smoosh even the biggest spider. I'm Ok with snakes. Not spiders. They move too quick.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That jumping spider is so cute! I like snakes too as long as they are outside.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This thread is way to scary for me..

I'm outta here! cry2.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Spiders are 8 legged beasts of the devil. Hell bent on human destruction. They will stalk you while you sleep, and kill you til your dead.

Mike

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you want to live and thrive,let a spider run alive

I was brought up to think it is bad luck to kill spiders,I regard them as friends because they kill flies

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wonder how the Alien contact crowd would react, if what climb out of a UFO bore a passing resemble to a giant spider and even fed like an arachnid on a store of live food?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One of my proudest inventions: the spider ladder.

You know how spiders are really good at getting trapped in sinks and bathtubs, requiring husbandly squishing and removal? Not being an eager squisher, I devised a solution that keeps everyone happy.

Take a short length of toilet paper, say a foot, moisten one end and stick that end to the top of the sink, letting the rest dangle down inside. Then go away and after a while the spider will climb the 'ladder' and be on its way. :yes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know that a lot of online mythology about giant spiders came during the Gulf War and people sending back photos of giant "camel spiders".

Fake pics like this one....

ieNgb.jpg

sure didn't help.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

I don't really know why you guys are scared of spiders so much, they just have lots of legs and stuff....

but Mantises, they're demon-spawn, and they suck your soul with their eyes till you go hollow.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Spiders need to stay the hell away from me lest they get squished

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Spiders need to stay the hell away from me lest they get squished

I have killed dozens of spiders in videogames, including a half human/half spider hybrid boss, so I'm not scared. They're all pretty big, and if I saw one in real life, I'm prepared.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not as prepared as i should be, but when the giant alien spider invasion comes i will be ready.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Spiders you'll ever see are smaller than a mouse. On average these are ladybird sized or tinier.

Did you know that as humans you're big giant monsters to these little creatures?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My wife HATES spiders. Can't abide them being in the house at all. Since my daughter has turned 6, she's become the household spider smasher. She'll smash anything that walks or crawls that is smaller then a quarter. But we had one of those big orb garden spiders in the backyard and she wanted nothing to do with that bad boy. Myself, I usually capture them if possible and toss them over the back fence, as a symbolic gesture that they are now Gone.

We've had a few Really Big jumping spiders this year. They look like they have a happy face on their abdomen and are bigger then a man's (mine) thumbnail. I thought they were cool, but everyone else wanted them dead. Me and daughter took them to the woods and released them from the jar we had them in.

Let me see if I can find a pic of one online.....

506e3bbf495baJumpingSpider_Lomo_large_medium.jpg

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I tend to leave Spiders alone outside, but inside a Shop Vac works best.

There's not enough Oxygen in today's atmosphere for very large Spiders.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I tend to leave Spiders alone outside, but inside a Shop Vac works best.

There's not enough Oxygen in today's atmosphere for very large Spiders.

I've read that there the idea of higher oxygen equaling bigger animals and insects is just that, an idea. There isn't any soft tissues from those giant animals to confirm that in fact the giants required more oxygen, and though there is a strong correlation between times of higher oxygen and larger animals (including spiders) that such has not been proven. It is imply the leading theory.

If giant insects (and spiders) used a somewhat different breathing system, with some way to pump the oxygen/air around their bodies, they could in theory grow to many times their current largest size.

https://askabiologist.asu.edu/explore/big-big-bugs

Scientists often consider several explanations for a puzzling observation like super-sized insects. Harrison points out that while there is good evidence to support the hypothesis that a prehistoric pulse in oxygen caused evolution of giant insect, there is no direct evidence. There are no living giant insects, or fossils of their tracheae. As a result, biologists are forced to study the next best thing: related insects still alive and crawling and flying today. A convincing test of the oxygen pulse hypothesis will depend on evidence from studies on many of these insects.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My wife HATES spiders. Can't abide them being in the house at all. Since my daughter has turned 6, she's become the household spider smasher. She'll smash anything that walks or crawls that is smaller then a quarter. But we had one of those big orb garden spiders in the backyard and she wanted nothing to do with that bad boy. Myself, I usually capture them if possible and toss them over the back fence, as a symbolic gesture that they are now Gone.

We've had a few Really Big jumping spiders this year. They look like they have a happy face on their abdomen and are bigger then a man's (mine) thumbnail. I thought they were cool, but everyone else wanted them dead. Me and daughter took them to the woods and released them from the jar we had them in.

Let me see if I can find a pic of one online.....

506e3bbf495baJumpingSpider_Lomo_large_medium.jpg

Cute cuddly looking fluffball of a very pretty spider :wub:

Great photo DieChecker!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have killed dozens of spiders in videogames, including a half human/half spider hybrid boss, so I'm not scared. They're all pretty big, and if I saw one in real life, I'm prepared.

Fallout?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As much as i dislike spiders, i do enjoy movies with monster spiders.. :P

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.