Spider Eats Bird Photos All Over the Web

Golden Silk Orb Weaver Spider Among Largest in Australia

A giant spider eats a bird and photos of the act are now buzzing around the internet. Just in time for Halloween.

In the land down under, there exists a mammoth specie of spider called the golden silk orb weaver. It grows rather large - the size of a man's hand normally but there have been reports of the golden silk orb spider growing even larger. Several photos of a giant spider eating an unfortunate bird have been posted on Thursday's (October 23) edtion of Australia's Cairns Post.

The photos were taken earlier in the week at a residence in Atherton, Australia. It seems that the bird, a Chestnut-breasted Mannikin, flew into spider's web and became entangled.

Joel Shakespeare, NSW's
Australian

Reptile Park's head spider keeper says the golden orb weaver usually dined on large insects but small birds were also common prey. "It builds a very strong web," he said.

Apparently.

Shakespeare also said that the spider would not eat the entire bird, but the spider's venom would break down the bird for eating and leave what was known as a food parcel. The spider, Shakespeare explained, would not approach the bird until it became weakened from its struggle to free itself from the web, the silk of which has the tensile strength six times that of steel. "If a spider gets a bird, it`s a very lucky spider."

The bird may not share that opinion.

Species of the Golden Orb Weaver spider can be found in various parts of the world including the Americas. The golden silk orb-weaver is indigenous to Australia and many of the Oceanic islands. The particular spider in the photo eating the bird in Australia is from the species Nephila edulis, better known as the edible golden silk orb-weaver. The average body of the female of the species is generally four times (23 mm - less than an inch) the size of the male (6 mm - less than a quarter of an inch), with a leg-span that can extend to that of a man's hand. The spider eating the bird in the photo is a female. Some golden orb weavers have been found to reach 45 mm (less than two inches).