An entomologist was out walking in the Guyana Forest in South America recently when he made a frightening find: a giant spider that was roughly the size of a puppy.
The tarantula is known as the South American Goliath Birdeater, according to Piotr Naskrecki, who took the photos.
The story went viral after photos of the unusually large arthropod were picked up by numerous media outlets. Naskrecki — who describes himself as an entomologist, photographer and author based at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University — said the post on his “obscure blog” was receiving more than 120,000 unique visits daily.
The South American Goliath Birdeater is the world’s largest spider, Naskrecki stated on his website. It weighs up to 6 ounces, and has 2-inch long fangs and a leg span that can reach up to a foot.
The spiders grow to be so large because of their metabolic rate, which is lower than their relatives, according to one study that Naskrecki cited.
