Enormous Megaspider Stuns Experts

Live Science

The Australian Reptile Park has the biggest funnel-web spider that the keepers had ever seen because of their venom program (for making anti-venom). Funnel-web spiders are typically half the Megaspider's size.

Transcript

00:00 what has eight legs and fangs powerful enough to puncture a human fingernail.

00:05 Meet Megaspider, a massive funnel-web spider that was recently captured in Australia.

00:12 "We've had the largest funnel-web we've ever seen handed in. This spider is quite a bit larger than

00:18 typical." Zookeepers at the Australian Reptile Park in New South Wales were astonished by the

00:23 spider's enormous size. It measured just over three inches from foot to foot. Most funnel-web spiders

00:30 range from under one inch to no more than two inches wide. Funnel-web spiders live in eastern

00:35 Australia. There are more than 40 species in the group and some species deliver a bite so toxic

00:41 that it can kill an adult human within 15 minutes. "Even a normal-sized funnel-web has extremely

00:48 large fangs but on this megaspider the fangs are almost two centimeters long which is longer than

00:53 a taipan fang and that's capable of puncturing a human fingernail." But the toxic cocktail in these

00:59 spiders bites can also save lives. The Australian Reptile Park hosts a special program that milks

01:05 the spiders for their venom which is then sent to a lab to be processed into anti-venom for treating

01:10 victims of spider bites. "Here at the Reptile Park we are very reliant on public donations of funnel-web

01:16 spiders to keep our venom program running and keep us saving lives. Because this megaspider is a female

01:22 she won't be milked we only milk the male funnel-webs here at the Australian Reptile Park

01:27 and we are the sole supplier of funnel-web spider venom for the production of anti-venom. With summer

01:32 just around the corner and funnel-web spiders becoming more and more active we are asking the

01:37 public to continue to contribute to our venom program through the funnel-web spider donations."

01:42 To make sure the park has a steady supply of venom for the life-saving antidote, keepers collect

01:47 spider donations from the public picking up captured funnel-web spiders from drop-off sites

01:52 in eastern Australia. But whoever captured Megaspider didn't label the container. "We'd

01:58 really quite like to know we're very interested so if you do know this spider and the container

02:03 please reach out we'd love to hear from you."

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