Goliath Encounter: Puppy-Sized Spider Surprises Scientist in Rainforest
 

Piotr Naskrecki was taking a nighttime walk in a rainforest in Guyana, when he heard rustling as if something were creeping underfoot. When he turned on his flashlight, he expected to see a small mammal, such as a possum or a rat.

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"When I turned on the light, I couldn't quite understand what I was seeing," said Naskrecki, an entomologist and photographer at Harvard University's Museum of Comparative Zoology.

A moment later, he realized he was looking not at a brown, furry mammal, but an enormous, puppy-size spider.

Known as the South American Goliath birdeater (Theraphosa blondi), the colossal arachnid is the world's largest spider, according to Guinness World Records. Itsleg span can reach up to a foot (30 centimeters), or about the size of "a child's forearm," with a body the size of "a large fist," Naskrecki told Live Science. And the spider can weigh more than 6 oz. (170 grams) ? about as much as a young puppy

full article...

That's a huge spider. I wonder how much it eats to achieve that size.

All you would hear would be the sound of a grown man screaming like a little girl as he ran through the jungle.

BULLSHIT

That is a known species and the only puppy it gets close to would be a Chihuahua. Even the article says and I quote: "body the size of "a large fist".

The photo perspective is deceiving (I shoot cocks the same way) and you can tell by the depth of field between the spider and the hand that there is quite a distance between the two resulting in the appearance that the spider is HUGE - big yes...but not THAT big!

You're welcome