Giant spider hides in car door handle

[HansV]

Even more dangerous than homo sapiens?

[AlanMiller]

Some days I'm glad I live in the UK. I like safe and boring!

Reminds me of a British comedian who was entertaining the troops in Afghanistan. He was behind sandbags with a group of soldiers, sheltering from a rocket attack on the base. One asked him what he'll do when he gets back to UK and he said he'd be performing some shows in Nottingham. The soldier replied, with a look of concern, "You want to be careful. It's pretty dangerous there."

Alan

[AlanMiller]

Even more dangerous than homo sapiens?

That's why I used the terms creature and beast. But YMMV.

Alan

[Rudi]

Serious? Are Australian horses carnivorous?

image.jpg

[AlanMiller]

Serious? Are Australian horses carnivorous?

Everything in Australia is bigger and meaner. Now death by horse is par for the course.

Alan

[BobH]

This thread motivated me to find out what non-human animals cause the most deaths per year in the US with this result.

US Animal Caused.png

Bee, dog and horse are the only double digit causers in the order listed.

The data only addresses rattlesnakes making me wonder how much greater the number would be if all poisonous snakes were included. I suspect that the bites of the other 3 species are so rare and so well treated with anti-venom that the numbers might not increase by much. The large rattlesnakes produce very large doses of venom and can kill a healthy young man in a short period of time if anti-venom is not delivered.

For those who don't live in the US, we have 4 different poisonous snake species: rattlesnake, cottonmouth moccasin, copperhead, and coral snake. There are at least 10 sub-species of rattlesnake and 3 coral snake sub-species. The coral snake is the only species that is not a pit viper. Its poison works upon the central nervous system. The copperhead is sometimes called the highland moccasin but is definitely a separate species. Cottonmouths are found in watery locations or lowlands while copperheads are found in higher less wet micro-environments thus the distinction between lowland and highland in the name.

[Rudi]

...And from my side of the world...
Unfortunately no numerical statistics in this report.

You'd NEVER guess what #1 is...

South Africa’s top 10 deadliest animals

[HansV]

In hindsight, not so strange...

[Leif]

I'd have put good money on it being the lesser- spotted Ruby...

[Rudi]

Hmmm...I wouldn't quite have categorized her with Black Widows!

[HansV]

She devours men alright...

[Rudi]

A timely NatGeo article ...

What Should You Do If You Find a Spider in Your House (or in your car door handle)?

When a reader from Belgium found a spider in her bananas, she bravely trapped it—and says she took it to the police for identification (though sadly not in four pairs of tiny handcuffs).

In retrospect, she asked us: "What should I do if I have a [venomous] spider in the house?"

For Weird Animal Question of the Week, we asked spider experts Christopher Buddle of Canada's McGill University and Jo-Anne Sewlal of the University of the West Indies how to react when someone screams "SPIDER!"

[GeoffW]

...And from my side of the world...
Unfortunately no numerical statistics in this report.

You'd NEVER guess what #1 is...

South Africa’s top 10 deadliest animals

And in Australia the horse. But, on average, 25 animal related deaths in Australia annually, whereas there appear to be many thousands of animal related deaths in Africa. I think I'm much safer here.
http://www.bobinoz.com/blog/12250/austr ... -of-death/

[LisaGreen]

Where do you guys get all of these numbers from!!!!

I don't mind the little spiders coz they keep the flies down... but I wouldn't touch any creepy crawly to save my life!!!! Get the vacuum cleaner out!!

[GeoffW]

Where do you guys get all of these numbers from?

The learned Dr Google.

[StuartR]

I use the wise and beneficient Duck Duck Go because it doesn't share my search history with its friends and sponsors

[Rudi]

I use the wise and beneficient Duck Duck Go because it doesn't share my search history with its friends and sponsors

You mean to say that Dr Google is violating "Doctor-Patient Confidentiality"??

[StuartR]

You mean to say that Dr Google is violating "Doctor-Patient Confidentiality"??

You may well think that, I couldn't possibly comment.

[PJ_in_FL]

All depends on the spider!

we had a Black Widow in the closet where the water pump was (home cistern water system) that looked HUGH when I flushed her out from under the pump.

Glad she ran away instead of toward me and up my leg otherwise I'd !

[viking33]

All depends on the spider!

we had a Black Widow in the closet where the water pump was (home cistern water system) that looked HUGH when I flushed her out from under the pump.

Glad she ran away instead of toward me and up my leg otherwise I'd !

If it was really huge, it was the male BW.They are OK, it's those females that you have to watch out for, much smaller.