Seriously. Now I want a whole channel dedicated to “the anteater.”
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Funnelwebs in the open will run into a hole at the first opportunity. I was given a demonstration of how to get a funnelweb out of your house the non-contact way, and it involves putting a jar on its side, within about two feet of them. They run straight in. Turn the jar upright, tah dah!
My wife is a “spider whisperer”, who takes any such beasties we catch to to local hospital; this is where they collect funnelwebs to help make anti-venom.
Trigger warning: arachnophobes, do not click the link below.
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When I was young my mother took it upon herself to teach me to respect spiders and not irrationally fear them. Whenever we have an arachnid intruder in the home, I’ll always take pains to relocate them (before the cats do - to another plane of existence). So seeing a story like this makes me happy.
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We are talking about Australia here, half a block is probably about 50 km.
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If the way to clarify the pronunciation is “It’s pronounced JIF, not GIF”, then it really is pronounced GIF.
I have been quite successful at driving trollies programmers by insisting that git is pronounced jit, though.
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I have long been a believer that the screaming, flee at the first sight response to spiders (and other invertebrates) is a learned behaviour and not an instinct one.
I love bugs, will stop in my tracks to watch an interesting one… always have done. But my sister, she saw my mum’s response and copied it, rather than my “hey, look at this cool critter!”.
I do think more people need to normalise things like insects as they are an important part of ecosystems, rather than “kill it!” kneejerk responses. Get to know when you have useful bugs and when you have bugs that signify issues you might want to address (I don’t like labeling them as inherently good or bad, as often we mean inconvenient).
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Exactly this! I mean I get why spiders and such are a little freaky (especially things like house centipedes), but they’re all such fascinating (and helpful) creatures. I love some of the spiders we have around here, but draw the line at giant house spiders being welcome inside, same with the black widows. Everyone inside gets escorted out.
Growing up, I was always shocked at the way adults would react to something like a water snake. Sure, that species of snake is kind of an asshole, but they’re harmless if you leave them alone. Instead, these adults would freak out and grab their pellet guns or rocks and kill the snake. Meanwhile, me at 7 would calmly walk up to it, pick it up, and carry it away while rattling off all kinds of facts about it.
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I “recon” there are enough spiders in the world. Sorry bud, it would be a big stomp from me!
I agree for the most part, with one exception: the Huntsman spider. The size of those things, the way they move, and the way they appear where you least expect them (e.g., three inches from my face while I’m in the shower) have conditioned me to scream like a toddler and flee in search of a weapon. Yes, I understand they’re harmless and beneficial (except when they’re having hundreds of babies in my house, which has happened twice), but my lizard brain doesn’t care.
I find it amusing that even Youtubers who keep tarantulas are afraid of Huntsmans because of their speed and tendency to bolt.
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There’s a much simpler way to correct the pronunciation: edit the file and save it as a PNG.
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Can’t animate a PNG, though, Old Timer. So .gif’s gonna be around for a while.
I hear that hard G, I start finding ways to insert “jay-feg” into the conversation.
Not true:
I don’t work with that format, so I can’t say what the limitations are, but animated PNGs do exist. I typically use GIFs though, and I don’t think they’re going away any time soon.
But back on topic… I’m still not fond of spiders, though I’m not as afraid of them as I used to be. I try to leave them alone when I find them in my house, as long as they’re sufficiently out of the way… but if they venture too close, they’re at risk of a smack. The way the father teaches his son respect is probably a better way than mine.
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I stand corrected.
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Cheered me up no end that!
Stories like this make me thankful my parents didn’t become ‘ten pound Poms’ in the late 1960s.
That and that they were going to live in Broken Hill…
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Face-huggers are friendly.
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It seems implausible that evolution would have given our hominid ancestors an instinctual fear of spiders when an instinctual fear of cats would be a far higher priority.
I’ve never been hunted by a lion, but I’ve heard a whippet approaching behind me at high speed. I knew I was in a dog park, and that it was probably that friendly whippet making that noise, but there was still a visceral feeling of alarm.
Leopards seem to have been the main hominid predator.
Not spiders.
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