According to the Telegraph, stunning photographs show a giant spider with black legs covering the body of a dead bird in its web. These images were taken in Atheron, near tropical north Queensland. Joel Shakespeare, spider curator at the Australian Reptile Park, said the spider in the photos above belongs to the Golden Orb Weaver species. Ninemsn.com quoted this expert as saying: “Normally, the Golden Orb Weaver spider often feeds on large insects… It is strange to see such a spider eat a bird.”
Mr. Shakespeare said he had once seen Golden Orb Weaver spiders as big as a human hand. However, spiders in tropical areas are believed to grow even larger. Representatives from the Queensland Museum identified the bird eaten by the spider as a native sparrow called the Chestnut Mannikin. Mr. Shakespeare said that the bird must have flown into the web and gotten stuck there. “The spider won’t eat the whole bird. “It uses poison to cut the bird’s meat into small pieces to eat and what it leaves behind is a portion of food,” Shakespeare added.
According to Queensland Museum expert Greg Czechura, there are known cases of Golden Orb weaver spiders feeding on small birds, but they are “very rare.” This spider builds a very strong web and will not attack until the bird is weakened, he said.
