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Camel Spiders Could Eat You for Supper!
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by Swan | March 24, 2009 at 01:43 pm
3306 views | 49 Recommendations | 12 comments
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Beware the Camel Spider!
Though it may look like a spider, they are quite different. Like scorpions and harvestmen, camel spiders belong to a distinct arachnid order called Araneae.
I must admit when I came across a picture of a camel spider, I pushed my rolling chair back so hard, that I nearly fell off. I'm a serious arachnophobic, experiencing incredible fear, even panic at the sight of ANY kind of spider.
I also have a morbid fascination with spiders and as long as they're nowhere near me, I can almost tolerate them on television. I've probably watched countless Discovery and Animal Planet programs on all kinds of arachnids, while holding a cushion to my face, in dire fear - peeking around the edge with one eye.
Go figure.
I've found a few YouTubes about camel spiders and the one that freaked me out the most, was the play-by-play commentary of one of these arachnids killing a mouse. These things can even travel up to 16 miles per hour, which is incredibly fast for an animal of it's size!
Regarding the videos, a couple of them are soldiers who have found camel spiders, and I am warning everyone that sometimes, the language can be somewhat ... colorful.
Solifugae - Camel Spiders.
A Solifugid (plural form Solifugae) is an arachnid belonging to the order Solifugae. The name Solifugae comes from Latin and means "flee from the sun", a reference to their nocturnal nature.
The order is also known by the names Solpugida, Solifugae, Solpugides, Solpugae, Galeodea, and Mycetophorae. The order includes 900 known species of wind scorpions, sun spiders and camel spiders.
One thing I have learned, is that they are either omnivores or carnivores, catching much larger prey than itself, including in rare cases, the pursuit of humans.
Ironically, these camel spiders do not attack camels but received their name because they are only found in the desert.
These arachnids are not only found in places such as Afghanistan, Kuwait and Iraq, but also in Las Vegas, California, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Israel, Libya and Zimbabwe, where they have been reported to be as large as dinner plates.
Interestingly, they are not found in Australia! I suppose box jellyfish, other poisonous arachnids and poisonous snakes are quite enough in that area of the world!
One evening I was walking next to a concrete stormwater drain when I noticed a rat chasing my shadow. I threw a stone at it and hit it with a lucky shot, but when I jumped down into the ditch to look at the "rat" it was actually one of them, the biggest I ever saw
I picked it up, presuming it to be dead, and took it home. It laid along the length of my hand, with the legs dangling over the sides.
At home I put it on the dining room table to look at it and the son of a ***** came alive! And was it angry! [...] These have to be the most repulsive spiders I ever have seen, and fearless too.
They will take on a big scorpion, no problem, I saw it many times, and kill small mice with ease. Aaaaaargh! They have hairs on them which carry an irritant to human skin. One walked across my brother and I as we were sprawled on the floor, and we both had lines of blisters across us afterwards.
I was in Iraq in 2003-2004 and had several experiences with these enormous, terrifying creatures. In my time in the military I've seen a lot of interesting bugs, but camel spiders are by far the worst.
Never before have I been chased by a bug and actually ran screaming. I'm suppused to be a tough as nails infantryman who has already made it through the invasion of Iraq and this thing scared the crap out of me.I was walking around our extremely small FOB (Forward Operating Base) in Haditha, Iraq in my flip-flops and PTs when my buddy waved me over. He had spotted a camel spider amd wanted me to share in his adventure.
We walked up to it slowly, being careful not to disturb it. The CS (Camel Spider) was about five inches in length and cruising around in the sand. After watching it for about a minute I decided to see what it would do if I threw a rock at it
Bad Idea! As soon as the rock landed the CS shot after us faster than anything bug I had ever seen. We both screamed and took off running. I jumped onto a nearby Bradley and the CS sped off into the night. I didn't try to find it.
Another time I was on gaurd during the day on a road near this large field and I saw a huge one running away from me. This one was probably at least 8 inches long. It was enormous. I ran and grabbed something to catch this monster with but in the 15 seconds it took me to grab something it had disappeared.
These are stories from our rough`n`tough soldiers in both Afghanistan and Iraq, how do you think you'd fare against them if you found one?
I know what I'd be doing - I'd be screaming 'blue murder' until someone killed it and showed me it's dead body to prove it was caught, and still not lurking around where I lived.
One would hope that in the U.S. they reach no further North than California - because if they ever cross the state line into Oregon, that's it - I'll be moving to Alaska!
Sources:
Camel Spiders.net
Online Source for Fact and Fiction on the Unique Camel Spider
Wikipedia
Solifugae
Camel Spiders.net
Amazing "Real" Camel Spider Stories from all over the World
Wikipedia
Opilones
Image Sources:
Camel Spiders.net
The Amazing Camel Spider
Copyright © 2003-09 camelspiders.net
Camel Spiders.net
Spider Bite
Copyright © 2003-09 camelspiders.net.
Wikimedia
Asian Forest Scorpion
Wikimedia Commons
Wikipedia
Scorpion
by Filip Lazarevic
Wikimedia
Harvestman
Wikimedia Commons
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Swan
Hillsboro, Oregon, United States
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (12)
at 14:28 on March 24th, 2009
Fascinating. I'm not sure what made you decide to post this, but I'm really glad you did!
at 14:36 on March 24th, 2009
Seriously Jordan!? Kidding swan, it's a good post - fascinating creatures, I just never never want to see one in the flesh.
at 15:00 on March 24th, 2009
Hello Jordan!
I'm happy that you 'enjoyed' the article.
I was looking at all the news today - much of it was about politics, which is not a field I enjoy writing about - and everything else was so darn depressing.
I'm not even sure how or why I got to the image of those spiders on the soldier's leg, but when I did, it sure peaked my curiosity. I was interested enough to do a little more research and before I knew it, I had an article!
Thank you for your comment Jordan!
~ Swan
at 14:35 on March 24th, 2009
This will haunt my dreams.. I am deathly afraid of spiders.
at 15:02 on March 24th, 2009
Hello Amy,
My job is done!
Just kidding Amy, I think I've cursed my own dreams for a while as well.
Thank you for stopping by!
~ Swan
at 15:23 on March 24th, 2009
Move to Alaska to get away from a spider, that if you had to, you could kill it with a good stomping? Okay.
http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/bearhunt.asp
Be sure to scroll all the way down!
Andf BTW they say the polar bears are way more mean.
at 15:53 on March 24th, 2009
Hello Batvette,
I collect and have a passion for all bears, especially the polar bear. A wish of mine is that one day I can go to Alaska to watch the grizzlies feeding on salmon, either at McNeil River Game Sanctuary, or Katmai National Park.
I have around 100 bears (so far,) made from Lladro, glass, crystal and other mediums. These include brown bears, grizzlies, polar bears and pandas.
I actually cry when I hear of a bear being shot as game.
As for stomping on a camel spider - it could stomp on me first as I stand there rooted to the spot in frozen panic!
Thank you for reading the article!
~ Swan
at 12:29 on March 29th, 2009
I'd do that (watching grizzlies) only with an experienced guide, while for the most part they go out of their way to avoid humans, sometimes they charge and attack (often killing) humans simply because you're there. Often a cub is involved but sometimes you were just perceived as a threat in his territory.
While I currently share your sentiment about trophy killing, I'd have to imagine a couple of hundred years ago or less when there were more bears and firearms were less advanced, we'd all have a lot less of the "noble creatures" attitude and a lot more of the "kill the SOB before he kills you" sentiment..... and thus having a bearskin rug or trophy head would be quite an accomplishment and measure of a man. I think that's how the whole trophy thing came about. Today that's irrelevant.
Now the Australian "Drop Bear", on the other hand.... :-)
at 21:55 on March 24th, 2009
"I'm a serious arachnophobic, experiencing incredible fear, even panic at the sight of ANY kind of spider."
You got company :D. Mine is a fixed chair, still I managed to push it back.. :-)
Me too a certified arachnophobic with qualities like raising hair, goose bumps, excessive sweating, screams and vertical jumping when I see one of these things.
But I am "coconut" scared of the Thick legged ones. Normal house variety is ok for me, though I won't go near them.
Nice, informative and damn scary article...! ...lol
.Agent.
at 12:14 on March 25th, 2009
Fun, icky and a bit scary but I liked it. Very informative. Thanks for posting.
at 03:12 on April 28th, 2009
What's with you people? they're spiders, that's all. Running? Scared? They are part of the soup we live in. Creatures, large and small are part of the big picture and killing them won't remove them from it. Better to accept that we are not the center of the universe and recognize that they serve a purpose, however hard it may be to discern, in our environment. How about dust mites and other "ugly" stuff? Millions of them live on YOUR skin, ladies (and that goes out to all the "heroes" who voluntarily work in the military, as well) you are not only part of their world, they are part of yours. Without them we will die. Sure, be careful not to get bit, but if you do, you're doing your mortal part in a world of give and take and if you don't recognize that they were here before you and will be here after you, I'm sorry to say, you're missing out on the vastness of variety that makes the world livable. I have showered with black widows overhead and they did not bite me ( I did not bite them either) and I'm glad that they do the job of balancing the flying insect (who by the way, might not bite but carry diseases anyway) populations in MY house and yard.......spiderbite (rare) mosquito bite... (not so rare and potentially spreading west nile disease, malaria, dengue fever, menengitis etc.) or would you rather poison your children and the food they eat with DDT? duh.
at 08:42 on May 7th, 2009
you guys are ridicoulous you dont know anything camel spiders are smaller than your thigh. i know because i studied one. people just edited the picture to make it look bigger.seriously how moronic can you people get these days.