I’m going pretend this is AI and move along. With climate change we are affecting their eating habits. Soon they may wise up and decide humans will make a better meal then turtles and fish.
I don’t think it’s a change in their eating habits, these spiders are known to catch fish, frog, salamanders or basically anything that size you’ll find near water. Just rare to see and snap a picture of one with a turtle.
Yeah, many larger spider species will go after smaller vertebrates. Goliath bird eaters (South American) will go after snakes much larger than they are - despite the name, they aren’t inclined towards birds though.
Yep, they are generally opportunistic and can be quite brazen. But most of the time they’ll go after easier, smaller prey.
I used to have a goliath birdeater and it was entirely fed on crickets. We tried a baby mouse once, but it was a huge mess to clean up and they don’t need nor prefer it.
That’s gotta be in Australia…
Nope, southern US. Found in a local group.
Great find! There are various members of Dolomedes in other countries. Some specialise in rivers, other lakes.
Nope, that’s a north American species.
That’s it, I’m petitioning the Army to let me have my M203 back.
Not us this time… though we do have spiders that catch fish, snakes, lizards and birds
Sure you do, you got the same genus of fishing spiders. In fact, Australia has 14 of them (the US has 3).
Well…
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/redback-spider-snake-australia-eastern-brown-deadly-venom-a8811046.html
I thought golden orb weavers would occasionally trap birds in their webs. I’ve definitely seen skinks caught in redbacks webs too
Not sure on the snakes and fish tho
In Australia the don’t have so little Spiders
https://www.india.com/viral/viral-video-trending-little-girl-fearlessly-plays-with-huge-spiders-leaves-internet-shocked-5601436/
…
I’m going pretend this is AI and move along. With climate change we are affecting their eating habits. Soon they may wise up and decide humans will make a better meal then turtles and fish.
I don’t think it’s a change in their eating habits, these spiders are known to catch fish, frog, salamanders or basically anything that size you’ll find near water. Just rare to see and snap a picture of one with a turtle.
Yeah, many larger spider species will go after smaller vertebrates. Goliath bird eaters (South American) will go after snakes much larger than they are - despite the name, they aren’t inclined towards birds though.
Calories are calories.
Yep, they are generally opportunistic and can be quite brazen. But most of the time they’ll go after easier, smaller prey.
I used to have a goliath birdeater and it was entirely fed on crickets. We tried a baby mouse once, but it was a huge mess to clean up and they don’t need nor prefer it.
Theridiidae are usually the most notourious for catching much bigger prey.