You thought T blondi's were big!

[Mendi]

Here is a link to someone holding one. I think this is pretty much the max in size as well.

http://unpa.org/photogallery/op-iraqi-freedom/64 Camel spider.JPG

There's a lot of false information out there on these, though I'm sure they would give you a nasty bite should you step on one in the dark. Someone did have a lot of fun with photoshop fixing that hoaxed one though

 

[Wade]

. Someone did have a lot of fun with photoshop fixing that hoaxed one though

Which hoaxed one? The one that started the thread?

Again, I'm pretty sure it's real, just taken at close range making them appear large in relation to the soldiers in the background. I don't think this was done to deliberately missrepresent the size, or else the hoaxter would have taken the time to crop the hand, shirt sleeve cuff and pliers out of the picture (all of which can plainly seen on the right side of the photo)! Compared with those objects, an estimated legspan of 5-6" is reasonable and not at all unusual for Galoedes.

Wade

 

[Mendi]

Yeah, the one that started the thread... I don't know if it was camera position or editing but it was done to be a misrepresent the critters size

 

[Wade]

If the intention was to missrepresent the size, why would they leave the hand in the picture? It's a dead giveaway as to the real size of the animals, and it woul be easy to remove. I know nothing about manipulating photos with photoshop, but even I know how to crop a photo.

I think the reason the photo is being passsed all over the internet is because the first impression is that they're much bigger, due to the foreshortening cased by the close range. I think this effect was accidental, it appears to me that they're being held very close to the camera, possibly by the photographer himself. The popular interest in this photo is a result of viewers focusing on the critters themselves in relation to the soldiers in the background and overlooking the clues indicating the real size. Clues that even the most incompetent hoaxter could have easily removed.

Wade

 

[FelixA9]

Yeah, the one that started the thread... I don't know if it was camera position or editing but it was done to be a misrepresent the critters size

No it wasn't. All they were doing was holding them up for the camera and saying "look". Any comments of "wow look how huge" by those who did NOT take the picture come from not knowing how to interpret a photograph. Consider also that the soldiers are American. The US isn't exactly overflowing with huge spiders so something that large likely has some of the novelty effect in there too to account for the enthusiasm. And yes I know "that large" is not Blondi sized. The combination of oddness, size, and ferocity of the little devils accounts for the stories and exagerations. No need to insult those taking the picture by trying to make them out as hoaxters.

 

[Eurypterid]

H R Geiger's design for the face hugger in the Alien series was actuallly based on various sexual parts of the female body. the theme of Bio-Mechanical sexual images was the reason he was hired to design the creature. if you look closely at the creature you can see what i mean.

While I don't doubt that he added his own bio-mechanical sexual touch to the overall look, I believe the face hugger was based on a parasitic animal called a pentastomid. They are small parasites usually in found in the lungs or nasal passages of vertebrates, especially reptiles. In the adult form some species (such as Cephalobaena) look almost exactly like the face hugger in miniature.

Gary

 

[Mendi]

No it wasn't. All they were doing was holding them up for the camera and saying "look". Any comments of "wow look how huge" by those who did NOT take the picture come from not knowing how to interpret a photograph. Consider also that the soldiers are American. The US isn't exactly overflowing with huge spiders so something that large likely has some of the novelty effect in there too to account for the enthusiasm. And yes I know "that large" is not Blondi sized. The combination of oddness, size, and ferocity of the little devils accounts for the stories and exagerations. No need to insult those taking the picture by trying to make them out as hoaxters.

It's made the list at Snopes Urban Legands Camel Spider

Below is sited from the above page

"Although whatever is depicted in the photograph above appears to be far too large for camel spiders, the creatures might just look unusually large because they were held close to the camera, creating an illusion of exaggerated size. However, since we don't know the source of the picture, we can't yet rule out the possibility that some other misdirection was involved (e.g., digital manipulation, a misdescription of what the photograph depicts, some soldiers goofing around with plastic figures or something else spider-shaped, etc.). "

Sure, it well could have started just as you say, but someone, maybe even one of the soldiers saw the "appeal" or in this case the "gross shocking effect" it has, in which means most people aren't going to spend more than a few seconds looking at the strange little arachnids analysing it and sent it out to FOAFOAFs that were likely to forward emails... And it worked very well, as it has gotten the desired effects and has been forwarded likely all over the world. And maybe only 10% of the people would spend more than 15-20 seconds looking at it before the heebie-jeebies sets in. I knew what it was as soon as I received it, maybe 5-6 days before made it here. Whichever, I'm pretty sure who ever sent it out online that time was looking for a sensation

Have you never heard of Claire Squire..? It is a pretty well known occurance for any email to be forwarded for sensational effects, and this picture, I could bet, made it around the world faster than Claire's personal email discussing the certain tastes

Just because they are soldiers doesn't mean they don't have the desire to be the someone that let "the cat out of the bag"

Just my take on it, and I had it as soon as the 1st time I got it...

~my $0.02 subject~

 

[Wade]

The size and appearance of Galeodes is such that it is shocking to nearly anyone who sees them for the first time, especially those who are not already fammiliar with large arachnids. Show an uninitiated newbie a T. blondi with a 10-inch leg span, and in the retelling it will become as big as a manhole cover! This is not a deliberate attempt to distort the truth, but an uncosious trick of the mind. The first time I saw a giant centipede, I swore the thing was 18" long. Looking back (with several years of centipede experience under my belt), I'm now certain that my first impression was wrong and the animal was probably about half that leangth, but the foot and a half monster lingers in my memory.

The point is, I doubt any soldier or photographer visiting the region would feel any pressing need to exagerate the size of these animals deliberately, because they really are freaking huge (I know, I've kept them). If they get bigger in the retelling, it's only because of the impression they make on the minds of the people who see them for the first time.

The stories and legends circulating with the picture is a whole seperate issue. While nothing about that picture itself suggests it's a fake, the stories attached to it obviously are, although I have to wonder if most of them are just local "old wives tales" passed on to the gullible forigners. The snopes site is full of examples of real photos with bogus descriptions. I don't doubt that the reason this photo is being passed around is the sensational nature of the stories combined with the unintentionally misleading image.

Wade

 

[princess_lover]

hmm

i got this picture sent to my via chain latter.. so i dunno whats going on i got it about a month ago.. it said something like the biggest spider in the world or something to that effect. But then i found it somewhere on the net and it was actully two of them together.. thats what they gave as an explaination.. so i might have gotten the wrong info.. or something but i don't think your brother's friends are in the pic.. or maybe they are.. i have no i dea

 

[Highlander]

Man I agree with Sansoucie if I were to see one of those guys it would freak the hell out of me!

 

[MANSON]

My cousin sent this me. He has friends stationed in Iraq but I dont know if they sent this to him or he found this on the internet. He called them "Camel spiders".

http://www.gophergas.com/funstuff/camelspider.htm

 

[Mendi]

Here is a site where someone is using the illusion the picture gives about the size of these things to get completely false information just to make a $1


http://www.buckstix.com/camelspider.htm


At this place, there has been some photoshopping on the original as there is a new tape measure adding to the illusion. I hope he loses money on all his products, spreading lies like this

 

[Wade]

What's funny is that it's obviously the same picture shown twice, the second time with a VERY BADLY photoshopped tape measure. That site is soooo bad that I almost wonder if it's intended as a total joke. At least the overall badness should be a warning to the unwary.

Wade

 

[MilkmanWes]

What's funny is that it's obviously the same picture shown twice, the second time with a VERY BADLY photoshopped tape measure. That site is soooo bad that I almost wonder if it's intended as a total joke. At least the overall badness should be a warning to the unwary.

Wade

IMHO the guy is a wannabe gaffer - someone who shows off the odities and abhorations of nature even if it means sewing a monkey to a fish and calling it a Fiji Mermaid. This is a form of entertainment that is very old. It involves illusion, story telling, and con artistry. This guy is just a bit more hackneyed at it than most.

You start with a sensational story - Camel Spider and it's habits. You expand on it by creating the story of the nests and add details that give you credibility. You then present the eggs from the nest to the oohs and ahhs of the audience and describe them that except for careful treatment it is a vertiable time bomb. Then for one low cost and a promise of following strict instructions for the good of all mankind lest a monster be unleashed on you and your loved ones you too can amaze your friends with your daring and cunning at owning this monster of nature. Sounds familiar right? In fact some kid traded a cow for some of these once which is why this would be classified as a Magic Beans Gimmick IIRC.

This guy isn't all that good at it, but it is nothing but a new take on a very very old theme that made such people as PT Barnum and Ripleys rich.

 

[Runaway987]

Lol i like the "male and female egg so you can have both sexes!!!" part...

 

[Fergrim]

oh my freaking god.

 

[Alex S.]

Thats just sad...

Alex S.

 

[LAking]

What's funny is that it's obviously the same picture shown twice, the second time with a VERY BADLY photoshopped tape measure. That site is soooo bad that I almost wonder if it's intended as a total joke. At least the overall badness should be a warning to the unwary.

Wade

What's even funnier is that all of you seem to think this CLEAR attempt at a joke is something real. Come ON!!!! The guy is making a joke. Did you even bother looking at the page that tells you HOW you can get a T-shirt?

Maybe this gives it away:
"If you submit a "Outlandish Story" about the Camel Spider ..... you can buy a T-shirt .....
If you submit an "Unbelievable Exaggerated Fact" about Camel Spiders ..... you can buy a T-shirt .....
If you submit a "Convincing tail of a Hoax" that's true ..... you can buy a T-shirt .....
If you can "Make Something Up" that "Outlandish but Believable" ..... you can buy a T-shirt ....."

Some people are sooooo gullible. Not all negative stories about inverts are meant to be taken seriously you know. Some are jokes...you know....HA HA funny?

Check out this part of the same web page:
"How to Hunt Wisconsin Whitetail Deer with a
12 pound Mountain Howitzer Cannon
.... by Buck Stix "

 

[LAking]

While I don't doubt that he added his own bio-mechanical sexual touch to the overall look, I believe the face hugger was based on a parasitic animal called a pentastomid. They are small parasites usually in found in the lungs or nasal passages of vertebrates, especially reptiles. In the adult form some species (such as Cephalobaena) look almost exactly like the face hugger in miniature.

Gary

Based on everything this "Alien" fan has seen and read i can safely say the face hugger was completely designed by Giger and not based on any real life organism. The original screenplay author came up with the basic idea of an alien that "screws" the victim and is thus brought on board the ship before it bursts out of the persons chest. However, Giger did all the visual designing. In fact the author had even met Giger and seen his work before he ever finished the screenplay. Giger decided to add fingers as the legs of the creature because he always thought creatures with human hands were scary. You can see a lot of hands and fingers in much of his art. The "mouth" was suppose to be a vagina-like orifice with a penis-like tube that penetrates the victims mouth. Sorry about the graphic descriptions but that's just how they were designed. Hope i'm not offending anyone.

EDIT: BTW, i finally found a picture of the organism you are talking about and it looks nothing like a face hugger. It looks much like a tape worm actually.

 

[Wade]

What's even funnier is that all of you seem to think this CLEAR attempt at a joke is something real. Come ON!!!! The guy is making a joke. Did you even bother looking at the page that tells you HOW you can get a T-shirt?

Maybe this gives it away:
"If you submit a "Outlandish Story" about the Camel Spider ..... you can buy a T-shirt .....
If you submit an "Unbelievable Exaggerated Fact" about Camel Spiders ..... you can buy a T-shirt .....
If you submit a "Convincing tail of a Hoax" that's true ..... you can buy a T-shirt .....
If you can "Make Something Up" that "Outlandish but Believable" ..... you can buy a T-shirt ....."

Some people are sooooo gullible. Not all negative stories about inverts are meant to be taken seriously you know. Some are jokes...you know....HA HA funny?

"

These lines have been added to the site very recently, like since yesterday. I'm thinking he got alot of complaints, and now is covering his butt by pretending it was a joke all along. Also,when the link was first posted, there was no mention of the shirts and eggs being sold out, they were simply being offfered for sale.

Wade