After the viral giant spider video that drags its rat prey, now what sells the creeps is the photo of a gigantic spider that seem to be a hoax -- but no, it's real, it's big, it's alive, and it's not Photoshopped.
Say hello to Charlotte, a gargantuan huntsman spider with each of its legs estimated to measure bigger than six inches each caught on cam in Australia. This seemingly fantasy horror icon has been causing hundreds and thousands of social network users to hyperventilate with its unusual size, but on the contrary, the photos were shared to increase awareness on spider conservation.
"Yes, she is very real and very large and not Photoshopped!" This is the strong statement from Barnyard Betty's Rescue page, which emphasized that the photos, and the size, are real, and nothing was edited out. The photos were taken last year but only went viral this week.
See the photos on Barnyard Betty's Rescue's Facebook page
Charlotte is yet to be exactly identified since it was immediately released after getting rescued in Queensland. But based on the photos, the spider belongs to the family Sparassidae, which is known to be one of the big crawlers on earth. So far, the record holder for the largest spider is also a huntsman spider found in Laos back in 2001. Its legs were recorded to be 12 inches long, which will probably make Charlotte their petite version.
Read here: Know more about huntsman spiders
These spiders are typically living their names by actually hunting down their prey instead of creating webs. They usually consume insects such as cockroaches or even small vertebrates such as lizards and rats. Even though huntsman spiders are big and scary, experts claim that you should not be totally scared of their stings because they are mostly non-fatal. Bites of huntsman spider on human may be painful but not deadly.
"She was a beautiful, calm spider, not aggressive in any way and like most spiders, she just wanted to go about her business eating bugs and living in peace," the rescue group clarified on their Facebook page. "She didn't or doesn't need to be killed! Poor spiders are so misunderstood!"