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Thread: Oh, Holy mother of God...

  1. #1

    Exclamation Oh, Holy mother of God...

    Bat-eating spiders are everywhere, study finds

    By Charles Choi

    Published March 18, 2013

    http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/...#ixzz2NuDzIc8n



    There's only one place in the world to escape bat-catching spiders: Antarctica. These arachnids ensnare and pounce on bats everywhere else in the world, researchers say.

    Bats rank among the most successful groups of mammals, with the more than 1,200 species of bats comprising about one-fifth of all mammal species. Other than owls, hawks and snakes, bats have few natural enemies.

    Still, invertebrates — creatures without backbones — have been known to dine on bats. For instance, giant centipedes in a cave in Venezuela were seen killing and eating bats, and the arachnids known as whip spiders were spotted feeding on dead bats in caves of the Caribbean. Cockroaches have been observed feeding on bat pups that have fallen to the floor of caves.

    Spider-eat-bat world
    Accidental deaths of bats in spiderwebs were known as well, but were thought to happen very rarely. Still, spiders are known to occasionally dine on a variety of vertebrates — creatures with backbones. For instance, fishing spiders capture and devour fish and frogs; some species of wolf spiders, huntsman spiders, tarantulas and related spiders have been seen killing and eating frogs and lizards; and tarantulas and comb-footed spiders have apparently fed on snakes and mice. There are also numerous reports of spiders killing other flying vertebrates, snagging birds with large orb webs.

    Recent studies of a web-building spider species (Argiope savignyi) and a tarantula species (Poecilotheria rufilata) both killing small bats led researchers to suggest that bat captures and kills due to spiders might be more frequent than previously thought. So they analyzed 100 years' worth of scientific reports, interviews of bat and spider researchers and the staff of bat hospitals, and scans of image and video sites. The search revealed 52 cases of bat-catching spiders worldwide. [See Photos of Bat-Eating Spiders in Action]

    Giant webs
    Approximately 90 percent of known bat-catching spiders live in the warmer areas of the globe, in the third of the Earth surrounding the equator. About 40 percent live in the neotropics — the whole of South America, and the tropical regions of North America — while nearly a third live in Asia and more than a sixth live in Australia and Papua New Guinea.

    Eighty-eight percent of the reported cases of bat catches were due to web-building spiders, with giant tropical orb-weaving spiders with a leg-span of 4 to 6 inches seen catching bats in huge, strong orb-webs up to 5 feet wide.

    In instances seen in Costa Rica and Panama, the spiders had built their webs near buildings inhabited by bat colonies. Bat-catching via spiderwebs was also witnessed particularly often in the parks and forests of the greater Hong Kong area. Future research may investigate whether the huge webs that sometimes block the entrances of tropical bat caves in east and southeast Asia and the neotropics may occasionally snag any members of the giant swarms of bats that emerge from the caves at night. [Photos: Creepy, Crawly & Incredible Spiders]

    The other 12 percent of cases of spider kills of bats were from spiders that hunt without webs. For instance, tarantulas were seen eating small bats in tropical rainforests in Peru and eastern Ecuador and on the forest floor in northeastern Brazil. A reddish parachute tarantula (Poecilotheria rufilata) was also seen predating on a small bat in Kerala, India, while a huntsman spider (Heteropoda venatoria) was observed capturing and killing a small bat in a shed near Kolkata, India. An attempt by a large fishing spider (Dolomedes triton) to kill a bat pup was also witnessed below a bridge in Indiana.

    The victims
    Most bat prey of spiders are small or juvenile insect-eating bats, and usually are among the most common bat species of their areas. Bats entangled in webs were usually 4 to 9.5 inches in wingspan, including some of the smallest species of bats in the world, and they sometimes died of exhaustion, starvation, dehydration or overheating — but there were many cases where spiders were seen actively attacking, killing and eating these victims.

    Bats are likely capable of detecting spiderwebs via echolocation, their biological sonar. Even if bats do collide with spiderwebs, only the strongest traps are likely capable of withstanding the energy of such an impact without breaking. As such, bat captures are likely rare.

    Still, as scarce as spider captures of bats likely are, they would prove well worth the effort. The catch of a 2-gram bat by the giant orb-weaving spider Nephila pilipes, a common killer of bats, would be a bonanza about 10 times the mass of the average daily catch of insect prey, researchers noted.




    Last edited by Anti Federalist; 03-20-2013 at 12:31 PM.
    Another mark of a tyrant is that he likes foreigners better than citizens, and lives with them and invites them to his table; for the one are enemies, but the Others enter into no rivalry with him. - Aristotle's Politics Book 5 Part 11



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  3. #2
    Damn, AF. I was going to post that pic.

  4. #3
    And then there is the frog eating bat.


  5. #4
    //
    Last edited by phill4paul; 08-28-2013 at 07:25 AM.

  6. #5
    9/11 Thermate experiments

    Winston Churchhill on why the U.S. should have stayed OUT of World War I

    "I am so %^&*^ sick of this cult of Ron Paul. The Paulites. What is with these %^&*^ people? Why are there so many of them?" YouTube rant by "TheAmazingAtheist"

    "We as a country have lost faith and confidence in freedom." -- Ron Paul

    "It can be a challenge to follow the pronouncements of President Trump, as he often seems to change his position on any number of items from week to week, or from day to day, or even from minute to minute." -- Ron Paul
    Quote Originally Posted by Brian4Liberty View Post
    The road to hell is paved with good intentions. No need to make it a superhighway.
    Quote Originally Posted by osan View Post
    The only way I see Trump as likely to affect any real change would be through martial law, and that has zero chances of success without strong buy-in by the JCS at the very minimum.

  7. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Anti Federalist View Post
    giant centipedes in a cave in Venezuela were seen killing and eating bats, and the arachnids known as whip spiders were spotted feeding on dead bats in caves of the Caribbean.
    "He's talkin' to his gut like it's a person!!" -me
    "dumpster diving isn't professional." - angelatc
    "You don't need a medical degree to spot obvious bullshit, that's actually a separate skill." -Scott Adams
    "When you are divided, and angry, and controlled, you target those 'different' from you, not those responsible [controllers]" -Q

    "Each of us must choose which course of action we should take: education, conventional political action, or even peaceful civil disobedience to bring about necessary changes. But let it not be said that we did nothing." - Ron Paul

    "Paul said "the wave of the future" is a coalition of anti-authoritarian progressive Democrats and libertarian Republicans in Congress opposed to domestic surveillance, opposed to starting new wars and in favor of ending the so-called War on Drugs."

  8. #7

  9. #8

    argiope aurantia


    we have a bunch of these all over Louisiana. big enough to eat a bat.
    rewritten history with armies of their crooks - invented memories, did burn all the books... Mark Knopfler



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  11. #9
    its the small spiders you have to watch out for
    they have horns and look like spawn of hell. all over the woods building their web over walking trails.
    rewritten history with armies of their crooks - invented memories, did burn all the books... Mark Knopfler

  12. #10
    “The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.” --George Orwell

    Quote Originally Posted by AuH20 View Post
    In terms of a full spectrum candidate, Rand is leaps and bounds above Trump. I'm not disputing that.
    Who else in public life has called for a pre-emptive strike on North Korea?--Donald Trump

  13. #11
    “The spirits of darkness are now among us. We have to be on guard so that we may realize what is happening when we encounter them and gain a real idea of where they are to be found. The most dangerous thing you can do in the immediate future will be to give yourself up unconsciously to the influences which are definitely present.” ~ Rudolf Steiner

  14. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by kcchiefs6465 View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by donnay View Post


    Ten Roger!


  15. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by torchbearer View Post

    argiope aurantia


    we have a bunch of these all over Louisiana. big enough to eat a bat.
    At least tell me that they are really slow and dumb?
    “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard.”

    H.L. Mencken

  16. #14
    we need spiders that eat drones.

  17. #15
    Chemically modified spiders (no SSRIs):

    “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard.”

    H.L. Mencken

  18. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by cjm View Post
    Chemically modified spiders (no SSRIs):

    'When given THC it didn't build a web,.. it built a hammock. Which it laid in all day and watched the caffeine spider go."

    Lmao.


    /end thread.
    Last edited by kcchiefs6465; 03-18-2013 at 09:53 PM.
    “The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.” --George Orwell

    Quote Originally Posted by AuH20 View Post
    In terms of a full spectrum candidate, Rand is leaps and bounds above Trump. I'm not disputing that.
    Who else in public life has called for a pre-emptive strike on North Korea?--Donald Trump



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  20. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by cjm View Post
    At least tell me that they are really slow and dumb?
    they move quickly, but I've never seen one jump. growing up there was a year that hundreds of the spiders formed webs all around the family farm. i'd catch them and put the in buckets(greased sides) and just let them die from chemical inhalation in the bucket. (its was used for drained oil)
    rewritten history with armies of their crooks - invented memories, did burn all the books... Mark Knopfler

  21. #18
    Aw, man....

    I was just getting ready to go to bed, and then I had to read this thread. Dammit!!!



    Sweet dreams, everyone.....


    Aaaaiiiieeeeeee!!!!!!

  22. #19
    Nothing like walking through a "pumpkin spiders" web around here in the fall and wondering exactly what part of your body that giant fuzzy orange bastard is latched onto as you run around screaming.

    Happens about every ten feet or so that time of year.

    Gotta walk while swinging a long branch in a circular motion ahead of path for sure
    Last edited by The Northbreather; 03-18-2013 at 10:26 PM.

  23. #20
    I think AF just decided to never come to the south. XD

  24. #21
    Why did I click on this before going to bed?

  25. #22
    Quote Originally Posted by donnay View Post

    Help the missus out AF..


  26. #23
    Quote Originally Posted by torchbearer View Post
    they move quickly, but I've never seen one jump.
    Hair spray. Works. They don't jump anywhere then. They just turn stiff. Sadistic, I know, but fuggem. I can't stand spiders.

  27. #24
    Quote Originally Posted by Anti Federalist View Post
    For instance, giant centipedes in a cave in Venezuela were seen killing and eating bats
    Honestly, I'd take a giant spider over a giant centipede. At least spiders spend much of their time sitting still in a web. Centipedes are in kill mode 24/7, zipping around from one corner of your peripheral vision to another until...






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  29. #25
    Quote Originally Posted by The Goat View Post
    I think AF just decided to never come to the south. XD
    I decided that long ago...ya'll are nuts.

    I have a shipmate of mine, has a ranch out in West TexASS, who delights in telling me, not only spider horror stories, but poisonous snake and scorpion horror stories as well.

  30. #26
    Quote Originally Posted by phill4paul View Post
    Help the missus out AF..

    Sure, no problem, I can take care of that.


  31. #27
    Every time I see this thread title reappear I laugh my ass off out loud. My husband is as terrified of them as you are, AF, so I get it.
    "Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one."
    —Charles Mackay

    "god i fucking wanna rip his balls off and offer them to the gods"
    -Anonymous

  32. #28
    Quote Originally Posted by Natural Citizen View Post
    Hair spray. Works. They don't jump anywhere then. They just turn stiff. Sadistic, I know, but fuggem. I can't stand spiders.
    hair spray would work. I didn't have any at that time. those spiders were big enough to bat into a bucket with a stick. plus I had a 5 gallon bucket full of huge spiders at the end to show everyone. which, at a young age, seemed very important.
    rewritten history with armies of their crooks - invented memories, did burn all the books... Mark Knopfler

  33. #29
    Quote Originally Posted by torchbearer View Post
    hair spray would work. I didn't have any at that time. those spiders were big enough to bat into a bucket with a stick. plus I had a 5 gallon bucket full of huge spiders at the end to show everyone. which, at a young age, seemed very important.
    Phhht. Yer nuts. When I was young we had an old civil war house with a rock basement and a dirt floor. When you went down there those fuggers would jump from one side of the wall to the next. Seriously. They were those big black furry sombitches too.Like the size of your hand. Although they were mostly legs but some of them had some ass on them. If you would have showed me a bucket of spiders I probably would have hit you with a stick or something. But I could imagine the excitement though if they didn't bother you.

  34. #30
    Quote Originally Posted by Natural Citizen View Post
    Phhht. Yer nuts. When I was young we had an old civil war house with a rock basement and a dirt floor. When you went down there those fuggers would jump from one side of the wall to the next. Seriously. They were those big black furry sombitches too.Like the size of your hand. Although they were mostly legs but some of them had some ass on them. If you would have showed me a bucket of spiders I probably would have hit you with a stick or something. But I could imagine the excitement though if they didn't bother you.
    they were stuck in oil and dead. they weren't doing any jumping. those garden spiders were more afraid of me. but they couldn't get away. they were too big. birds started eating them too. it was kind of a race.
    rewritten history with armies of their crooks - invented memories, did burn all the books... Mark Knopfler

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