Mother Nature is trying to Kill You #4

It’s been a while since I told you of some of the little and not so little things on our planet that could kill you. So I've found some new little nightmares for you. (Aren't I the best?)

Let’s talk about spiders!

We are all aware of how dangerous spiders are and have a general idea of which ones we should look out for. (Or is that just me?)

I know my previous posts have been about animals and volcanoes found all over the world, which has left a lot of people going “Wow, that’s frightening, at least there is an ocean between us.” Well, this time I decided to do something a little different. I’m going to tell you about some of the dangerous spiders found right here in good ol’ Africa. Our home. (And theirs)


Baboon Spider (Harpactirinae) - Tarantulas of Africa


In Africa they are known as Baboon Spiders, you may be more familiar with the name "tarantula". Baboon spiders are not the most venomous spiders but they can give a nasty bite and can be very aggressive. Victims will experience severe pain at the bite site, vomit and feel weak and dizzy. Baboon spiders are large and hairy, their body size alone can reach up to 3 inches. There are over 40 species of baboon spiders living in Africa. They live on the ground, build silk burrows and generally wait for their prey to amble by. Female baboon spiders can live up to 25 years and many people choose them as pets which is leading to a decline in their numbers.

A bite from a Baboon Spider

Darwin's Bark Spider (Caerostris darwini)

Darwin's Bark spider, lives and works in Madagascar, and some parts of South Africa. It is the architect of the largest web in the world. Webs are woven across entire rivers and span up to 30 square feet. In order to attain this astonishing size, the silk is twice as elastic as that of other spiders and considered to be the toughest biological material ever found. I've added this incredible spider to the "scary" list because I keep imagining what it must feel like to walk into one of these webs by mistake. (I'd break out the ninja skills!)

Button Spider (Latrodectus) or Black Widow

A particularly venomous species, the button spider injects a neurotoxin venom into its victims. You may be more familiar with the term, "Widow Spider" given the fact that the larger female kills her mate once she's had her way with him. Colouring varies from cream to black and many have red markings on their bodies. A bite from a female button spider (especially the black ones) has the capacity to kill a child and seriously harm an adult. If bitten, the victim will be in a lot of intense pain, experience elevated blood pressure, muscle cramps and weakness in the legs. There are 6 species of button spider in Sub-Saharan Africa, from Madagascar to the Cape Verde Islands. (FUN!)


Ogre-faced Spider (Deinopidae)
(Ok, This one is not deadly but I thought it was quite fun, so here it is.)

The Ogre-faced spider is found throughout Africa. It's not venomous, nor particularly large, but its face can scare the pants off any grown up I know. This is a fascinating creature. It spins a web between its long front legs, stretches it nice and wide and then leaps down onto its victims to trap them in it. Marvel comics must have been inspired by this spider. (Spider Ogre, Spider Ogre, Does whatever a Spider Ogre does. Can he swing from a web? Yeah, I'm sure he can.)



Six-Eyed Sand Spider (Sicarius)

 The six-eyed sand spiders' Genus is Sicarius, which is Latin for "murderer" A strong hint that this is a toxic beastie. One bite can kill a rabbit in just a few hours. While there are no recorded cases of human fatalities, this is one spider you should avoid. The six-eyed sand spider lives in desert areas in southern Africa, like the Kalahari desert. It's sometimes called the crab spider because it moves like a crab. It buries itself in the sand and waits for its victims to wander by before it strikes. The venom of the six-eyed sand spider is hemolytic/necrotoxic, which causes blood vessel leakage, (EEEEW!) tissue destruction and multi-organ breakdown. Luckily, this is one shy spider.

Jumping Spider (Evarcha culicivora)

Jumping spiders are common household spider who stalk their prey rather than weaving a web. The Jumping spider apparently has such an affinity for human blood, it shows a strong preference for female mosquitoes who are filled with the stuff. While it doesn't have the mouth tools necessary to jump on humans and feast directly, the idea of a vampire spider who likes the taste of human blood, is scary enough. I have had a few encounters with these bad boys (with scars to prove it) and believe me it is no fun at all. My younger sister recently had surgery because of a bite from these buggers. So yeah, I kill them on sight and feel no sympathy for it.

Jumping Spider bite after two days

Violin Spider (SICARIIDAE: LOXOSCELES)

Not going to lie, when I first read about the Violin Spider, I had nightmares and anything that resembled a small light brown shape in my house got squashed. More often than not it was fluff but I wasn't taking a chance. (I still squash any small brown thing, just in case.)
This is one frightening spider and what makes it worse is they are all over our country. (Now we know how Australians feel about almost every living creature in their country.) 

Violin spiders usually live in grassland and in caves with only one species introduced into houses on the Witwatersrand. Violin spiders are nocturnal and at night may find their way into clothing, beds and shoes. To date no anti-venom has been produced, and although no death has been reported in Southern Africa, plastic surgery is sometimes necessary to repair tissue damage. Violin spiders are usually brown or reddish brown in colour, with dark markings on their bodies. They often have characteristic violin-shaped markings on the cephalothorax and are quite often confused with daddy-long-legs, which are not venomous.

Violin Spider Bite

So that's all I have to say about that.

Here is a video of a Tiny Birthday For a Tiny Hedgehog with his Hamster friends. Watch it and feel better about life.