photo of spider eating a bird in backyard

[Amby 490]

An amazing image of a mammoth spider devouring a bird was taken in the backyard of a property near Cairns, Australia.

The image, which is being cirulated via e-mail worldwide, is real, according to wildlife experts, The Cairns Post reported.

The photo, believed to have been taken earlier this week, shows the spider clenching its legs around a lifeless bird trapped in a web at a property near Atherton, west of Cairns.

Joel Shakespeare, the head spider keeper at NSW's Australian Reptile Park, said the spider was a golden orb weaver.

"Normally they prey on large insects, it's unusual to see one eating a bird," he said. Shakepeare said he had seen golden orb weaver spiders as big as a human hand but the northern species in tropical areas were known to grow larger.

Shakespeare said the bird, a chestnut-breasted mannikin which appears frozen in an angel-like pose in the pictures, is likely to have flown into the web and got caught.

"It wouldn't eat the whole bird," he said.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,443734,00.html

[Jasman0717 9]

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Amber, you're all about gloom and doom. Life can't be all that bad.

[Amby 490]

Amber, you're all about gloom and doom. Life can't be all that bad.

nah steven i'm all about crazy!

[Sister Fracas 5]

that definitely falls on the "con" side of the list of reasons pro & con to travel to Australia.

[HAL 9000 96]

that definitely falls on the "con" side of the list of reasons pro & con to travel to Australia.

That and the 'men in gray suits' plus those salt water crocs. Other than that, I'm dying to go. No pun intended.

[Ban Hammer 13,352]

another reason not to go to australia on vacation.