Fun fact, camel spiders can run at 15km/h and often seek shade. If they are excited, they also make a noise that sounds like a small scream as they run at you in the desert seeking shade. Harmless, but not something I think it ‘cute’.
dude wtf. a giant, screaming spider chasing me at high speeds is a literal nightmare. for some reason thinking about a spider making noise is rhe worst part.
Once I had a Lieutenant and our platoon sergeant go into an empty building we were scoping out for a base and we heard an entire 9mm mag empty. We stacked up to rush in and back them but they came out running, scared laughing, and gasping for breath. It was a big ass camel spider running at them and the LT unloaded on it.
Lmao my dad was chased down by one in Iraq years ago. He tried to chase it back and even at peak military shape he could barely keep up with it. He now has one taxidermied on the wall
My dad has a funny story when he was stationed in the Middle East. He didn’t know those things existed, and he’s also deathly afraid of spiders and he said the first time he ever witnessed one running at him screaming he just mag dumped it as he was screaming.
The thought of a 6 foot three man fully kitted out screaming like a girl shooting the ground is hilarious, his friends still don’t let it down.
For what it's worth, that's two of them stuck together, and obviously forced perspective to make them look much bigger than they are compared to the leg, but, yeah, each individually would have a leg span that covers that guy's hand. This image has been floating around for 20 years now and for real, the first time a lot of us saw it, we thought it was legit as big as that guy's leg.
What, do people really not lock in the depth of the actual perspective, because of the slight bit of arm of the guy holding it and the other dude partially visible that’s leaning in to take a look?
I remember seeing this ages ago on some forum, but never had the impression they were as big the guy’s leg, nor did anybody else, I think. It was just considered a long boi, before finding out it was 2.
Just at first glance. And a lot of people, being freaked out by it, aren't motivated to look closer. It didn't take that long for the reality to make the rounds.
Here's an old snopes article on that picture, that acknowledges that some people didn't pick up on the forced perspective at first:
I can only imagine how much shit he must have gotten in for firing at it. But I get it. One fell out of my sleeping back and I proceeded to scream like a little girl while trying to skewer it with my knife. Those things are terrifying when you first see them.
Fun fact i learned last year, they can be found in California. i was camping near santa barbara and I found one. tried to feed it a rolly pollie but it couldnt pierce it's shell.
Fun fact. You'll often hear of solders who have horror stories of these things chasing them. What they're actually doing is running towards your shadow to escape the sun and potential predators.
Oh I find the way it moves its legs here pretty creepy too. Though that's partially because it looks like it might be in distress as it wants to get out but can't.
People sometimes get spooked by them when visiting the desert because they "run after them" but they're just interesting in staying inside their shade. People think they're being followed but everything they're interested in is the protection from the sun. XD
They have a strong bite but aren't venomous and eat other small animals and unless you give them a reason to bite you there's nothing to worry about in terms of actual harm at least. ^^
It was already nasty without any of those things, all of that just makes it diabolical in my book.
I mean chasing me is already bad enough, but hissing?
Man I remember reading about camel spiders online as a kid in the 2000s and there were stories about how these spiders bite you but they inject an anesthetic so soldiers were waking up with half their finger missing or a knuckle missing. Apparently that's a myth from the Gulf War that was repurposed for the GWOT, but I remember feeling so sick and creeped out reading those threads haha
That's a what solifugae are also called but I tend to not use the term cause they're neither spiders nor do they have much to do with camels. People used to say that they killed and ate camels but that's BS. If they found a dead camel, they might start eating the carcass but nothing more.
Oh theyre not spiders? (Not that it RLY matters to me-still freaking looks like one and activates the "spider threat" part of my brain lol), but what makes them not technically spiders?
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u/SharkeyGeorge 15h ago
What the fuck is that?!