[JMT]

You may have already seen this:

According to the e-mail that has been circulating with the picture:
Quote:

Subject: FW: Camel Spider found in Iraq--This is a huge spider!!!! Yuck. I sure am glad we don't have these here. Although we probably will after this war..... This picture is a perfect example of why you don't want to go to the desert. These are 2 of the biggest I've ever seen. With a vertical leap that would make a pro basketball player weep with envy (they have to be able to jump up on to a camels stomach after all), these bastards latch on and inject you with a local anesthesia so you can't feel it feeding on you. They eat flesh, not just suck out your juices like a normal spider.

According to the author of the article at urbanlegends.com:
Quote:

Comments: The photo appears to be authentic. Fortunately for all of us, especially the guys in the picture, the same cannot be said of the accompanying text, which merely repeats false rumors circulating since the start of the Iraq war. This scary-looking creature (actually, it's a pair of scary-looking creatures dangling end-to-end) is indeed commonly called a camel spider, but it is found in arid locales all over the world — including the southwestern United States — not just in the Gulf region. A typical specimen can grow to about the size of a child's hand, but, though they are known for being vicious predators (see video), camel spiders are neither venomous nor a threat to human beings. They don't eat camels, either.

I don't care, I sure would NOT want to find one of those in my sleeping bag.

 

[Jeff Guidry]

Think Saddam was keeping a few of those as pets in his hole?

 

[Hajime]

I am in a Zoology course and we learned about these, among other things. They're harmless to humans. The reason they're called camel spiders is because of the way they look when they walk, they raise their back end up over their body. They like to stay in the shade, so they follow camels as they walk to keep in the shade. That's where the myth of them chasing people came from.

 

[Mr.PD]

I got that email. The copy I got didn't have the part about them eating people. In fact, it just said that someone was bitten by one and they were not venomous.
Those are big ugly spiders though.

 

[Onix]

They look like Alien's "facehuggers". I don't think I'll be able to get my hands on one of them whithout going bananas, but my kid would probably take it home and sleep with it. By the way, they are just about the size of a human hand, without counting the legs, of course. So, they are not that big.

By the way, I have seen big black spiders in and empty apartment lately. Now I know what has killed all those poor cats.

 

[grinch]

http://www.snopes.com/photos/bugs/camelspider.asp

 

[Mr.PD]

Quote:

Originally posted by Onix By the way, I have seen big black spiders in and empty apartment lately. Now I know what has killed all those poor cats.

big black spiders in, and subsequently empty the apartment?
or big black spiders in an empty apartment?

Either way, what kind of spider goes around killing cats?
(a good spider)

 

[Rizumu]

I....hate...spiders...

 

[usc goose]

Quote:

Originally posted by Rizumu I....hate...spiders...

you moved to the wrong city.

 

[Onix]

Quote:

Originally posted by Mr.PD big black spiders in, and subsequently empty the apartment? or big black spiders in an empty apartment? Either way, what kind of spider goes around killing cats? (a good spider)

Ooops, bad typo time. I meant spiders in an empty apartment. Big, black and hairy. My wife goes ballistic when she sees them and my kid wants them as pets

As for the cats, I made that up, trying to freak someone out. And seeing Rizumu's reaction, I guess I really got him good. Sorry Riz

 

[Rizumu]

Quote:

Originally posted by usc goose you moved to the wrong city.

Tell me about it! Unfortunately...no one told me until I already got here, and then it was too late...

"Oh, you don't like spiders? Ha ha! Well, Davis is full of them. They're everywhere."

"Gee....thanks for the advance notice..."

If I ever saw a spider as big as my hand, I would be packing my bags and leaving.

To another country. Least of all Iraq.

 

[gsferrari]

I havent seen a single spider or a snake and I live in Florida

back home in India snakes were as commonplace as Hindus :lol:




(intended purely as a joke...I am a Hindu just in case someone takes offense...and even if they took offense I really couldnt care less).

 

[usc goose]

who on earth would get offended because you alluded to the fact that there's lots of hindus in india?

i really don't get the rules sometimes.

 

[Mr.PD]

Hey Onix, actually my wife said she saw where black widow spiders killed a cat.

There were thousands of black widows under a house she lived in. The exterminator came to spray them, and got freaked by the dead cat covered with spider webs and spiders.

We don't have large spiders around here.

The biggest spider I have ever seen in the wild was a tarantula on the road from Death Valley out by Scotty's Castle. That was cool.

 

[ServinginEcuador]

Quote:

Originally posted by Rizumu I....hate...spiders...

Ditto, and I think you got Outdoor Man beat with this little smiley Rizumu. I gotta keep a link to this one as it would have many uses here.