Stuff of Nightmares by brewgirlca
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No AI - This artwork was created entirely by hand or with traditional digital tools.
Description
Isn't she a beauty? This is a Goliath Birdeater Tarantula from South America, currently living in our local museum. She is just a teenager being "only" about 8" from leg tip to leg tip, she has another 4" to go before she is mature! This was shot 1;1 macro and the none zoom image is about her real size. She was on good behavior for me that day, holding perfectly still for this 10 second exposure. Being an ambush predator it is in her nature to be still for long periods of time.
Despite their name, Birdeaters very rarely eat birds; their favorite food is earthworms. Though they do dine on frogs, toads, lizards, snakes and small rodents.
Zoom in to see the lovely details of her hairy coat. Those hairs are highly irritable; shedding them into the air with her hind legs is her first line of defense.

Comments (19)
So mush for sleeping tonight! lol. Nice capture.
*much
Fantastic image!!!
Pretty scary shot!
A fantastic hairy macro. From this POV, it looks like there are legs coming out of a pair of nostrils - a very bizarre & disturbing thought...
Those legs are her fangs... even more scary.
Fabulous capture and definitely worth zooming in. Very fascinating spider.
I wouldn't want it crawling into my sleeping bag!!! Super detail in this image, the hair is so intricate and you have really good DOF. Great macro!!!
Excellent close up and so detailed. She is a beauty! I've seen a few TV snippets on this species now and there was an article floating around Yahoo! for awhile a few months ago about a guy who photographed one in the wild. The first time in, like, 10 years. Quite a spectacular arachnid. I like the comment above about legs coming out of the nostrils: "those aren't legs, those are fangs" Yikes!
Excellent photo.
I love it! Great capture of this beauty
crap! made about leap back. good photo of this jumping hairy mo fo. myself i would have stayed back, Roxy.
Roxy, you did a marvelous job on this truly terrifying capture.
So terrific as beautiful !! Very good macro !
Saw a special on these monster spiders, such a terrific critter. Lets hope they don't chop down all its habitat.
Incredible capture!!
She's gorgeous! And great shot. ")
YEEEEEEEEE GODS.............. It's Ungoliant in the flesh....or hair, maybe....... A spider that big just ain't right........ What a fantastic, detailed shot of this critter, Roxy! I'm not easily creeped out by creatures like this, but getting that close to an arachnid of that size, might give me pause for more than a moment. Still, it's a fascinating look at her - so much great detail. A superb photo!
Kinda figured Angel would love this.... LOL
That's a beautiful little beastie! Nice capture.
WOW ... I love this "baby". Zoom is therefore mandatory. I have read that the jaw can be as big as a ping pong ball. With the jaw, the spider injects provide victims with a paralyzing neurotoxin. However, their poison for people not dangerous ... unless you are allergic. The coat makes them appear larger and more powerful the opponent opposite .... and more interesting for me. OUTSTANDING capture, Roxy. Macro is soo cool.
This is a beautiful capture, you can see the details wonderfully, thank you for commenting on my image Kelzie, about Screen legend hair kinking, it did kink in a couple of place I used the clone tool in Photoshop to smooth them out.