The heaviest spider
It can weigh as much as a young puppy. No spider is heavier.
The Amazon · Spiders and scorpions
Goliath birdeater
Theraphosa blondi
An enormous, dark brown, hairy tarantula with a leg span the size of a dinner plate.
- Size
- Leg span up to 28cm; weight up to 175g
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Burrows in swampy rainforest in northern South America
Plods after you on legs like fingers. Move your pointer and see.
When to look
Goliath birdeater
Good to know
Six things about the goliath birdeater
It hardly ever eats birds
It was named from an old engraving of one eating a hummingbird. Its usual food is earthworms, insects and frogs.
It flicks hairs
Its main defence is to rub barbed hairs off its abdomen into the air. They sting skin and eyes.
It hisses
It makes a hissing noise by rubbing the bristles on its legs together. It can be heard several metres away.
Fangs an inch long
Its fangs are long enough to pierce skin, but its venom is mild: about like a wasp sting.
A long-lived female
Females can live for twenty years. Males live for three to six.
The real thing
Photos of the goliath birdeater
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Photos are from Wikimedia Commons, used under the free licences shown. They have been resized, and cropped where they appear in link previews.
How to spot one
It comes out of its burrow at night. Researchers find it by walking slowly with a torch and watching the forest floor.
How to help
It lives only in undisturbed, swampy forest. Those kept as pets should be captive-bred, not taken from the wild.
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