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ZooNooz Article - June 2005
Do bird-eating spiders really eat birds?
Story by Warrick Angus
Photograph Brian Chant
The idea of spiders catching and eating small birds has
entertained scientists for over three hundred years.
On rare occasions, Australian bird-eating spiders have been sighted dragging small chicks back to their burrows, but this is more the exception than the rule.
One of the earliest accounts was in 1705, by the scientist
Maria Sibylla Merian. Unfortunately, her story was dismissed as
a 'traveller's tale'. However 150 years later she was vindicated
by an eye-witness account of a spider killing two finches.
Australian bird-eating spiders |
Australia's own bird-eating spiders grow as big as your
hand, with fangs up to one centimetre long. Emerging from
their underground burrows at night, they feed mostly on
invertebrates, small lizards and occasionally frogs. But do
our species really eat birds?
On rare occasions, Australian bird-eating spiders have
been sighted dragging small chicks back to their burrows,
but this is more the exception than the rule. A more
appropriate name for this family of Australian spiders is
Whistling Spiders. This describes their distinctive and unique
feature of rubbing their mouthparts together to produce a
loud whistling or hissing sound when they are threatened.
So, these spiders can eat birds, but if they catch one and
start to lose the battle, at least they can whistle to scare it off!
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