I’m not generally afraid of spiders. Sure, I don’t want to snuggle up with one and take a nap or anything, but I’ve been known to nut up and squish a few or rinse one down the sink without too much screaming.
However. There are limits to co-existence with spiders. And this one may be taking it too far.
According to Time magazine:
[S]traight from northern Sri Lanka, where scientists say they’ve discovered a new type of giant tarantula with a leg span of up to eight inches. Grab your rulers and mirrors, because yep, that’s about the average length of a human noggin.
As if that weren’t frightening enough (or cool enough — you pick), this particular spider was found living in trees. Anyone who’s ever walked beneath a tree and wound up brushing away a tiny spider knows that some arachnids enjoy an arboreal life, dangling from silken threads to surprise unsuspecting trail-walkers. Now imagine one the size of a volleyball landing on you like one of the facehuggers from Alien.
Hmmm, they sound like they might be just a tad bit too large to gently nudge/wash down the sink drain. (Related: we can also take Sri Lanka off the list of places we’ll ever visit.)
But the real clincher, as my sister pointed out to me on Facebook, is the spider’s name (and nickname)
Covered in beautiful, ornate markings, the spiders belong to the genus Poecilotheria, known as “Pokies” for short. These are the tiger spiders, an arboreal group indigenous to India and Sri Lanka that are known for being colourful, fast, and venomous.
So these crazy fast, venomous, humongous spiders are named Poe and they go by Pokie for short, which sounds an awful lot like my childhood nickname, Pookie.
I guess I’ll have to stop squishing them now that they’re kinfolk.
