Thanks, I hate it.
Poor turtle :( he’s just a little fella
Sleep tight.
Why limit it to the US? Dolomedes is international.
Also yes I will sleep tight, knowing these adorable and accomplished spiders are out there living their best lives.
But the spiders is Australia are worse right? Thats how I justify sleeping at night. Tell me its true.
there’s the slight alleviating factor of most people not living in lakes
…and with closed mouth
That’s gotta be in Australia…
Nope, southern US. Found in a local group.
Great find! There are various members of Dolomedes in other countries. Some specialise in rivers, other lakes.
In Australia the don’t have so little Spiders
…
Not us this time… though we do have spiders that catch fish, snakes, lizards and birds
I thought golden orb weavers would occasionally trap birds in their webs. I’ve definitely seen skinks caught in redbacks webs too
Not sure on the snakes and fish tho
I’m going pretend this is AI and move along. With climate change we are affecting their eating habits. Soon they may wise up and decide humans will make a better meal then turtles and fish.
Fascinating is not the word I would use to describe that
I know your age range just from the master of disguise reference
Saw that shit in theatres. As well as Baby Geniuses 2 and Meet the Spartans.
You’re my exact age 31. And 32 in a few months
Neither are humans, but there is always a first
Turtle, turtle, turtle…
Haven’t thought about that movie in forever
“I wouldn’t call it funny, per se, but I remember it…”
This is basically the plot of IT.
Ofc not, turtles aren’t fish!
Don’t spiders actually sort of rather drink their prey than eating it? We digest food inside us, spiders just vomit up shit onto paralysed prey that liquifies it so the spider can just sort of slurp it up.
So I wonder how he’ll do with a turtle. It’s easy enough to imagine on a fish, but…
It’s a guilty pleasure that I love The Matter of Disguise.
This is AI right?
Right?!
…it is though - the ripples make no sense, nor does the ant-spider in size or shape.
This is not AI.
Unfortunately, no… I’ve seen one of those things, and they’re honestly kind of scary to stumble across in the wild. They’re huge, and they can swim.
I do agree that this picture looks weird, but I think it’s just a weird picture. The spider is hanging backwards, with his belly facing upwards (that little nubbin at the back of the abdomen usually angles down), but the way that he’s lifting his head to bite the turtle makes it look like his body is facing the other way. As for the ripples, it looks like he’s lifted the turtle high enough that we’re getting a shot of them without the water directly below them. The ripples look like they’re probably relatively calm water 5-10ft behind the spider, which is why they don’t match up with the action in the photo.
I would love to upvote something so fascinating as a sudden change or extreme rarity in ecology, but unfortunately I cannot in good conscience because doing so also promotes animal gore fetishists that exist in unfortunate numbers on general forums, youtube, etc.
I know about the types of communities you are talking about, but there is a difference between people who purposefully put animals together to cause them to kill each other for entertainment and taking striking pictures of natural predation.
I just watched a video of an Australian water rat eat the heart of a toad, as an adaptation to prey on invasive species with mostly toxic organs. That is pretty cool, and the shock value helps with the educational aspect.
There’s a difference between that and “let’s put a snake and a spider in the same confined environment to watch them kill each other for fun.” Or god, the monkey torture people.
Animals eat each other, and learning about them will require confronting this fact. I think this photo is educational, not lurid. Most people know very little about spiders, and I hope that my posting this picture got people to think more about the natural world. It is shocking, it does provoke a visceral reaction, but it also prompts questions. I am probably going to use it as a phenomenon to explore the next time I work with a student on biology.
where’s the gore
There is a dead little turtle dangling by its neck.
so what do you think gore means
Remember a couple weeks ago when you noticed people keep downvoting your comments for no reason, and I suggested it was because they recognize your username?
Cool Cool
