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The Gigantic Camel Spider ?

S

Southby

Guest
I thought bird spiders were the biggest spiders around, apparently those Afghanistan Camel spiders dwarf em. heres a link to a picture:
http://vandeneinde.com/v-web/gallery/Army-Pictures/camel_spider
"This spider isn't poisonous, but it sure looks scary. It can run 10 MPH and jump 5 FT high and 8 FT long. They travel in packs and run across the desert in Afghanistan."


Well, not so... apparently that famous picture is out of perspective, here is a quote and some good links showing a better perspective:

More info at Wise geek: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-camel-spider.htm

Other related links in 2 categories:
BUNK:
http://www.buckstix.com/camelspider.htm
http://www.snopes.com/photos/bugs/camelspider.asp  <-- looks believeable, but utter crap.

AND DEBUNK:
http://www.enhg.org/b/b16/16_25.htm
http://www.boingboing.net/2004/04/09/the_truth_about_came.html

Lame/Funny:
http://www.starbuilders.org/fft/articles/camel.html

Moderator edit: Quote from Wise Geek removed at their request.
 
I most definitely agree the  critters are ugly . They  had some pics of them on here awhile back . Just thinking of the nasty  bug sends shivers up my spine .
 
Imagine waking up to one of those in your sleeping bag...and I thought centipedes were bad!  :eek:
 
One of the troops that works for me just got back from Kabul in Feb (no names, no pack-drill ;D).  He only saw one camel spider (in his bed space of all places!).  However there is a comical side-note.  One evening, while he was playing something on his laptop in his bed-space, unknown to him, his headset fell and was dangling near his leg.  While swinging back and forth it brushed his leg.  In his words "He screamed like a little girl" thinking it was a camel spider.  Luckily, at least he hopes so, there was no one else in his weather-haven  ;).

cheers  :cdn:
 
Those are massive...  is that picture with the soldier holding two at once?
 
He's got one camel spider in his pliers, and another clinging onto that one, so yep there are two..

(If anyone hasn't caught on, they aren't the size of that guy's leg.. You can see the pliers and part of the guy's hand/sleeve for a better size reference)
 
LOL.......

showed that picture to a friend on the weekend who is TERRIFIED of spiders........ even on the screen he took 5 paces back and his eyes were 3/4 out of his sockets lol .....his coment was if he were there, there would be a h*** of alot of rounds aimed at those things.

was definately priceless lol
 
www.snopes.com knows all and tells all -

http://www.snopes.com/photos/bugs/camelspider.asp
 
The short version of these WRONG facts
- Camel spiders can traverse desert sand at speeds up to 25 MPH, making screaming noises as they run. 
they only run 10mph, still fast. but don't 'scream'
- Camel spiders can jump several feet in the air.
No so, they can jump, but not the distance portrayed here.
- Camel spiders eat the stomachs of camels, hence the name "camel spider." ...
Again, BS'. They got the name from living in the same environment as camels.
-#  Camel spiders are venomous...
Not true, they contain NO venom


Hope this helps  ;D
I first got interested in this when I over heard some ones tall tale of their 'buddy' trying to bing one back from Afghanistan, and it was 2 feet long and customs had to starve it to death cuz they were afraid of its poison... and how they would shoot at them with rifles at night....  You smell that? I sure did, hence the research. 
Still, nothing I'd like for a pet... or lunch... maybe we'll see em on fear factor as an entree?
 
Heres a national geographic artical on the little critters "wind scorpions"
http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0407/feature5/index.html

Not spiders or scorpions, they are classified as: Solpugids

happy googling.

 
If it makes any of you out there feel any better, they eat scorpions.  Ergo, even though they are absolutely hideous looking and usually scare the snot out of you by coming out of nowhere in a tremendous hurry, let them be.  If you can try to train yourself to - jump AWAY from them, not AT them. ;D :crybaby:

Cheers.

MM
 
I wonder what the crunch would sound like when you step on them?
 
I could tell ya spider stories, considering we are host to the most deadliest one on earth, the funnel web (atrax robustus), where the male of this species can kill a human in minutes from just one tiny nip!

Yes, and they love the suburbs and the bush. I reckon they fit in with all the other little nasties here which bite and sting, or both.

Gotta remember to shake that laundry  ;D


Cheers,

WEs
 
Do tell wes!
 
I was bitten back in June 1997 by a White Tailed Spider and spent some time in intensive care, and I was not my self for some months afterwards. The thing was not even 1.5 cm long.

Here is a spider chart of the local beasts which haunt my backyard and sometimes inside too. Click to enlarge.

Cheers,

Wes
 
If I come to australia remind me to bring my flamethrower. ;D
 
That Redback looks remarkably like a Black Widow.  Same spider, Australian name?  Or simply a close relative?
 
They are related, and the Red Back even hs the red 'hour glass' on its underside too.


Cheers,

Wes
 
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