The nightmare fuel scuttling around in the above video is a giant, six and one-third inch long Huntsman spider named “Behemoth” which was found by the Australian Reptile Park in Somersby, New South Wales last week. Apparently the spider was handed in during a drive to have funnel web spiders brought to the park, so that their venom might be used to create an antidote.
Huntsman spiders, on the other hand — a species large enough to take down prey as large as a mouse — are not venomous and are generally not considered a threat to humans. The park’s general manager told the Evening Standard that the spiders get a bad rap due to their size, and because they “tend to inhabit many places that humans do and will pop up when you least expect them.”
Behemoth was eventually returned to the wild after being measured and compared to both a regular-sized Huntsman, as well as a giant bird-eating spider, as you can see in the photos below. It’s unclear how Behemoth measures up to Charlotte, an enormous Huntsman discovered living at an animal shelter late last year, but it’s safe to say most people wouldn’t want to run into either one in a dark alley late night night … Or a wide-open space in broad daylight, for that matter.
(Via Evening Standard)