Goliath birdeater
The Goliath birdeater is a huge, hairy, brown tarantula. It is the heaviest spider in the world, about as heavy as a big apple. With its legs spread out, it can be as wide as a dinner plate.
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Fun facts
When it feels scared, it rubs its legs to make a hissing sound.
It can also kick tiny itchy hairs off its back at an enemy.
A female can live 15 to 25 years, longer than many dogs.
It lives in a deep burrow and comes out at night.
A mother lays 100 to 200 eggs, and the babies hatch after 6 to 8 weeks.
Most asked questions about Goliath birdeater
?Does the Goliath birdeater really eat birds?
Very rarely. It mostly eats insects, worms, frogs and other small animals.
?How big is the Goliath birdeater?
Its body can be up to 13 centimetres long, and its legs can span up to 30 centimetres.
Myth buster
Myth: It mostly eats birds.
Truth: No. It catches birds only very rarely. The name comes from an old picture that showed one of these spiders eating a hummingbird.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Theraphosa blondi
- Group
- Spiders
- Family
- Theraphosidae
- Classification
- Arachnida > Araneae > Theraphosidae
- Lives on
- South America
- Also known as
- Goliath tarantula, Goliath bird-eating spider
Where the facts come from
- Goliath birdeater (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Didier Descouens. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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