Ark Posted August 25, 2005 Share Posted August 25, 2005 Oh OK. Practise makes perfect I guess... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangerous brain Posted August 25, 2005 Share Posted August 25, 2005 2. 'Camel spiders'. Alarm bells should start ringing when you see any arthropod apparently that size - there are limits to growth on creepy-crawlies for many reasons, including the inability to get oxygen to their tissues. And no arthropod is going to run at 50mph. The story of the camel spiders is covered on National Geographic here . It turns out that they are about 6" across. It says on the site that the photo is a fake, but it's not really - it's just a false perspective. All the claims about feeding etc are flat out false, though. Cliff MM well I agree that the pictures of camel spiders are a bit missleading and the reports of them eating people are complete rubbish, The speed of them is a tad exaggerated but heres the thing they aren't that exaggerated. I have personally seen a camel spider with a body the length of a 500ml can of strongbow and as stupid an idea as it is poked it with a stick lol. They are very aggressive when poked with sticks and emit funny hissing sounds. They also shift very quickly. We had a biggish one in our 20 man tent and it managed 3 laps inside it with all of us attempting to stomp its ass into oblivion before we actually got it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbeh Posted August 25, 2005 Share Posted August 25, 2005 I love Squirrels Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terribleturner Posted August 25, 2005 Share Posted August 25, 2005 I love Squirrels My dad got attacked by a squirrel once. He was in the garden walking around when one fell out of a tree and onto his back. Must have been like the scene in National Lampoons Chritmas Vacation Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbeh Posted August 25, 2005 Share Posted August 25, 2005 Haha that film is a classic I dunno, theres something mischeivious about a Squirrel, very deceptive, cute but vicious Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nic Posted August 26, 2005 Share Posted August 26, 2005 I dunno, theres something mischeivious about a Squirrel, very deceptive, cute but vicious They're 'sleepers', especially in the winter.... where did I put my coat?... I always think of the Black Adder sketch when I think of squirls Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jspec Germany Posted August 26, 2005 Share Posted August 26, 2005 LOL i think spiders are great, ALL of the native uk spiders are totally harmless. oh and all of that stuff about the camel spiders is a fantastic work of fiction writen to wind up military personel on their way to the gulf Aha! Good one. Clearly you've never seen one of these bad boys in action. I recommend you volunteer up and do a few hitches in the desert so as to prove me wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jspec Germany Posted August 26, 2005 Share Posted August 26, 2005 Spiders and urban myths go hand in hand and I've seen the two in this thread quite a few times before. So: 1. 'We swallow an average of eight spiders in our sleep each year', as someone pointed out early on, is a myth. IIRC this statistic was originally concocted by a journalist specifically to find out if people would believe outrageous facts sent round via email Obviously, it succeeded betond his wildest dreams, because I've heard this from everyone and his mother. 2. 'Camel spiders'. Alarm bells should start ringing when you see any arthropod apparently that size - there are limits to growth on creepy-crawlies for many reasons, including the inability to get oxygen to their tissues. And no arthropod is going to run at 50mph. The story of the camel spiders is covered on National Geographic here . It turns out that they are about 6" across. It says on the site that the photo is a fake, but it's not really - it's just a false perspective. All the claims about feeding etc are flat out false, though. Cliff Fact- They can be as big as your hand. Look at that picture again. It's perspective that makes them look so big. I agree. You'll notice the soldier's shirt cuff on the right side of the picture. I assure you, these are not toys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terribleturner Posted August 26, 2005 Share Posted August 26, 2005 I have to admit that i thought that the Camel Spider was fake too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tannhauser Posted August 26, 2005 Share Posted August 26, 2005 Fact- They can be as big as your hand. Look at that picture again. It's perspective that makes them look so big. I agree. You'll notice the soldier's shirt cuff on the right side of the picture. I assure you, these are not toys. Yes, even comparing them to the shirt cuff, you can see that they are huge. I'm not saying they are little - 6" across or so is ginormous. It's just that against the other soldier's leg, each one looks maybe 12" long. DB mentions their speed around his tent and National Geographic estimates that they can reach 10mph. If that's true, and we estimate their length at 6", the equivalent speed for a running man would be 120mph. Which is pretty fast. Cliff Boring fact: actually, a man-size spider wouldn't move much faster than a 6" spider, because as you get bigger body mass increases by the cube of your length, whereas muscle power (determined by cross-sectional area of muscles) increases as the square. So as you get bigger, your power/weight ratio plummets. Sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ark Posted August 26, 2005 Share Posted August 26, 2005 Boring fact: actually, a man-size spider wouldn't move much faster than a 6" spider, because as you get bigger body mass increases by the cube of your length, whereas muscle power (determined by cross-sectional area of muscles) increases as the square. So as you get bigger, your power/weight ratio plummets. Sorry. Which is just one of the reasons fleas can jump so high. On the other end of the spectrum, elephants are comparatively weaker than humans, despite the fact that they can lift tree-trunks. Meanwhile ants can easily lift 10 times their body weight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lust2luv Posted August 26, 2005 Share Posted August 26, 2005 Getting back to the original question, the Vegan Society suggests: "A spray made with chestnut and clove scents deters spiders." So if you don't mind your entire house stinking of cloves, there's your answer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jspec Germany Posted August 28, 2005 Share Posted August 28, 2005 Funny we've been talking about this. The wife and I were in a Harley dealer in Belgium yesterday shopping for t-shirts for her dad.... anyway, she comes walking around the corner as I'm trying to check out and says, "You've got to come see this." She takes me around the corner to a rack of shirts and pulls 3-4 of them back and there in the middle of this T-shirt, is a huge brown spider. I said, "Wow, big one. Should we tell the store?" She said, "no, let them worry about it." Nice huh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivan Posted September 5, 2005 Share Posted September 5, 2005 Sorry to resurrect this post, but have you seen the vid of a camel spider feeding? http://www.big-boys.com/articles/camelspider.html Don't tell me that won't hurt if it bites you. Uuurgghh! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terribleturner Posted September 5, 2005 Share Posted September 5, 2005 That's the one eating the lizard isn't it. Nice, reminds me of ALIEN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jspec Germany Posted September 6, 2005 Share Posted September 6, 2005 Yeah, that's pretty nasty alright. I hate those things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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