Giant Spiders in the Amazon Rainforest

[milehigh]

Recently I've been hearing about the different myths and legends behind giant spiders (5 1/2 foot long) in the Amazon Rainforest. People report children and pets being carried off and eaten. Right now I guess they're knd of like bigfoot- they may be there, but they are not proven to be. Does anyone belive in these stories, or have evidence they exist?

 

[Ciphor]

Recently I've been hearing about the different myths and legends behind giant spiders (5 1/2 foot long) in the Amazon Rainforest. People report children and pets being carried off and eaten. Right now I guess they're knd of like bigfoot- they may be there, but they are not proven to be. Does anyone belive in these stories, or have evidence they exist?

A 5 foot diameter spider would have a hard time avoiding capture/evidence over the duration of mans stay on this planet. It's a myth mate.

 

[spiderengineer]

Recently I've been hearing about the different myths and legends behind giant spiders (5 1/2 foot long) in the Amazon Rainforest. People report children and pets being carried off and eaten. Right now I guess they're knd of like bigfoot- they may be there, but they are not proven to be. Does anyone belive in these stories, or have evidence they exist?

some one has been watching monster hunter on the history channel

 

[milehigh]

some one has been watching monster hunter on the history channel

How'd you know?

---------- Post added 06-18-2013 at 05:11 PM ----------

A 5 foot diameter spider would have a hard time avoiding capture/evidence over the duration of mans stay on this planet. It's a myth mate.

That's how I feel.

 

[spiderengineer]

How'd you know?

seen that episode as well

 

[windscorpions1]

I saw the this episode as well. There is no such thing as a 5 foot spider.

 

[The Snark]

Lagest terrestrial, Heteropoda Maxima. Web spinner, Nephila (they trade off which is larger). Largest aerial, Antanov 225. Largest ephemeral, see the Sasquatch thread,

 

[MarkmD]

before/during age if the dinosaurs their was super-massive spiders, because the atmosphere was different back then, not sure exactly what size they where but were huge.

 

[Ciphor]

before/during age if the dinosaurs their was super-massive spiders, because the atmosphere was different back then, not sure exactly what size they where but were huge.

They were the same size as spiders now days. The largest known spider fossil is only 6 inches in diameter. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/04/110419-biggest-fossil-spider-china-animals-science/

Megarachne servinei (the giant 1 foot 20 some inch leg span spider shown on some documentaries) was nothing more then a miss-identified sea scorpion fossil. Happens all the time

http://scienceblogs.com/laelaps/2010/03/24/megarachne-the-giant-spider-th/

 

[Tarantula155]

This is a joke, right? I don't know how anyone can believe in such things. Of course it's not real.

 

[Elytra and Antenna]

There are Amazonian whipspiders with a whipspan -front legspan- up to 24" (2 feet).

Show us a report of a pet or child being carried off in a link (we probably all have internet access here). Remember that most "spider bites" on the internet are bacterial infections but it's chic to blame it on spiders.

 

[The Snark]

I read some glurp about spider size a while back. The paper concluded the size of the spider has been determined by evolution and modified by habitat. Essentially, it expounded that spiders over a certain size become prey to more different types of animals and the species survival rate goes down accordingly. Take H Maxima. It is able to achieve such a large size due to it's relatively predator free habitat just slightly less hostile than the dark side of the moon but highly conducive to it's survival.

 

[josh_r]

I am living in Peru now and I have not heard of such stories from the locals.... Maybe I just need to get out more...

 

[MarkmD]

They were the same size as spiders now days. The largest known spider fossil is only 6 inches in diameter. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/04/110419-biggest-fossil-spider-china-animals-science/

Megarachne servinei (the giant 1 foot 20 some inch leg span spider shown on some documentaries) was nothing more then a miss-identified sea scorpion fossil. Happens all the time

http://scienceblogs.com/laelaps/2010/03/24/megarachne-the-giant-spider-th/

Alright cool, i wasn't sure thanks for the link.

 

[freedumbdclxvi]

I have a rare pygmy giant amazonian spider. Only grows to about 10" - far less dangerous than its five foot cousin. A steal at only $1250!

 

[Stefan2209]

I am living in Peru now and I have not heard of such stories from the locals.... Maybe I just need to get out more...

Hi Josh,

it's always a good idea to go out and have a chat with the locals while you're in Peru

However, in regard of that "hear-say" portrayed giant "man-eater" spider in Monster Quest, i personally take it for rather likely that such myths in the Amazon never existed at all.

I have a bit of an interest in cryptozoology, so i'm aware of the "tale" of that umpty-feet large spider, it's an old report anyway. The interesting fact is rather, this was never reported from South-America (if Amazon or anywhere else), but from the african Congo.

Now Monster Quest comes along and wants to do a tv-show, that's about 95% entertaining and about 5% education (at best).
Take a look at the safety & security situation in the Congo these days.... Then go looking for someone who can credibly be casted as some kind of "expert" on congolese spiders and who has good connections over there...
That's the very point where some problems start to build up.

Now let's say, we just switch continents: we make up a story and say it all has happened in South-America.

Here we have:

1. a very credible and knowledgeable science guy who has a positive media-attitude
2. much better safety & security situation
3. a professional expediteur-company who just needs to be payed to get the media-material needed

and as a bonus you get

4. some live-material of worlds-largest tarantula

Much better than to deal with the Congo - aside from that: next to no one will care anyway. The only persons with that kind of knowledge are for sure not the target-audience of Monster Quest, so why bother?

Amused Greetings,

Stefan

 

[pitbulllady]

Monster Quest actually started out in its first season as a fairly interesting show, but things quickly went downhill from there. When your "expeditions" fail to turn up any actual evidence for any of the more-famous "cryptids", you resort to making stuff up, creating stories and "monsters" where none have existed, not even in obscure folklore, and that's what they did. Their last seasons covered mutant packs of killer dogs roaming the country, the result of wild dogs from Asia mating with "pit bulls" and other fighting breeds, mutant giant wild hogs, hybrids between venomous cobras and giant Burmese pythons taking over Florida the rest of the country which could reach lengths of over 30 feet, had deadly venom AND could constrict, and of course, five-foot-wide man-eating spiders in the Amazon, and other utterly ridiculous garbage. The show disintegrated quickly from being a means of taking a look at the more famous cryptids, like Bigfoot, and the evidence of their possible existence, to being simply another example of sensationalistic programming with no educational value at all.

pitbulllady

 

[paassatt]

...to being simply another example of sensationalistic programming with no educational value at all.

pitbulllady

That describes about 85% of all television now. Another reason I've never regretted ditching cable a year ago.

 

[The Snark]

That describes about 85% of all television now. Another reason I've never regretted ditching cable a year ago.

85%? I'd go with 98.872% and at least 106% of that can be replaced by a few minutes web surfing a day (someplace other than twittster, fakebook et al).
Quality web sites like http://hoaxbusters.org/ are not that hard to find.

 

[josh_r]

Hi Josh,

it's always a good idea to go out and have a chat with the locals while you're in Peru

However, in regard of that "hear-say" portrayed giant "man-eater" spider in Monster Quest, i personally take it for rather likely that such myths in the Amazon never existed at all.

I have a bit of an interest in cryptozoology, so i'm aware of the "tale" of that umpty-feet large spider, it's an old report anyway. The interesting fact is rather, this was never reported from South-America (if Amazon or anywhere else), but from the african Congo.

Now Monster Quest comes along and wants to do a tv-show, that's about 95% entertaining and about 5% education (at best).
Take a look at the safety & security situation in the Congo these days.... Then go looking for someone who can credibly be casted as some kind of "expert" on congolese spiders and who has good connections over there...
That's the very point where some problems start to build up.

Now let's say, we just switch continents: we make up a story and say it all has happened in South-America.

Here we have:

1. a very credible and knowledgeable science guy who has a positive media-attitude
2. much better safety & security situation
3. a professional expediteur-company who just needs to be payed to get the media-material needed

and as a bonus you get

4. some live-material of worlds-largest tarantula

Much better than to deal with the Congo - aside from that: next to no one will care anyway. The only persons with that kind of knowledge are for sure not the target-audience of Monster Quest, so why bother?

Amused Greetings,

Stefan

That makes sense! Thanks for the explanation! I am defilitely going to be talking with locals about this n' that. I have plenty of time to do so as I have moved here. It has been very interesting learning the culture! Thanks again!

JOsh