Monster spiders are a common creature featured in many a science fiction movie, but science has had trouble producing such a large specimen. Spiders don’t get to the size of automobiles like in say David Arquette’s 2002 picture Eight Legged Freaks, but I have no doubt that there are some spiders which are quite large.
That one photo from Iraq made me interested in camel spiders, but that interest was quickly dashed once the experts pointed out the fact that there were two spiders hooked to one another, making it look like one monster spider.
A large 10-inch Tarantula from South America
The various treks through South America and Texas netted about what one would expect from MonsterQuest… not a damn thing. All they got was more folk tales about enormous spiders, capable of killing and dragging dogs into the forest.
A few years ago, there was a scientist on television who shot down any idea of spiders being able to grow to the monster sizes purported by the so-called eye witnesses. His claim was more to do with the legs of a spider wouldn’t be able to support the large abdomen of a giant spider. There’s apparently some sort of limit.
That theory was never mentioned here, but a more interesting one was. One of the experts stated that a spider’s simple lungs make it difficult for them to grow to large sizes. The amount of oxygen in the air today is much lower (65% lower) than back “in the day” when spiders were said to grow to enormous proportions. This simple fact was much more intriguing to me. It’s not necessarily the diet or predators, but their rudimentary lung structure which is limiting their size. It’s somewhat of a relief, though I’m more scared of small spiders, as they’re said to be the most poisonous. But, I’m no spider expert.
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