Photos of spiders eating things at least 5 times their size!

I've got my eyes on you, Jack

It's amazing that spiders can eat animals bigger than themselves...

A common perception is that spiders like to eat flies that have been silly enough to fly into their webs and traps. This is all true but you can add that moths and other flying insects like butterflies also make up part of a healthy spider diet.

The truth is that spiders will eat just about anything their 8 legs can grab onto.

Here's some cool pictures of what some spiders have been caught eating, including the odd lizard, worm and even a bird!

Damn freaks!

Right?

We'll start our run with an early spider gets the worm joke: yep, this spider is munching down on a juicy worm. How do I know worms are juicy? I got paid a dollar once by my brother to eat one.

Sucker!

I would have done it for 50 cents!

Worm for breakfast

Now we have the classic tarantula spider eating a dead chicken picture. 

I'd be surprised if this huge spider managed to bring down the chicken all by himself but none-the-less, it's a spider eating a chicken shot! I hope it's not a staged photo...

Tarantula eating a spider

You'd think lizards and geckos would be faster than a spider right? Not so in these two pictures.

The picture below appears to be showing a spider carrying a lizard up a door or a window. Kind of reminds me of this python pulling up a kangaroo actually! Either way, that's a strong spider.

Spider carrying a lizard up a door frame

Lizard for Lunch?

Now this is where our what do spiders eat photo essay gets a little weird...

Can you imagine a spider eating a snake? Can you imagine a Spider reading the meaning of U2's One song lyrics?

Well, it looks like this little fella managed to capture a grass snake of some kind in his web and made him a snack.

Spider eats a snake!

Hey Jimmy Jangles, that's only a little snake! It hardly counts! Okay then dear reader, how about a bigger snake being eaten by a spider? That image does kind of look like a set up though eh?

Snake eaten by a spider

In the spider kingdom there's one spider that everyone knows the name of: Taranatula! And here's a picture of one eating a small mouse. 

Tarantula eating a mouse

So far we've had the spiders eating the worms, spiders, mice and and the odd chicken, but I've saved my favorite picture till last. Spider eating a bird. It's my favorite because that is one big bird and that is one mean looking spider. And that bird must have put up a decent fight right? So imagine how tough the spider is!

Bird being eaten by a spider

Still interested in spiders? Check out this myth about spiders that eat camels!

2 comments birds, lizards, mouse, snake, spider, worm

Cheeky Heron eats baby ducklings in front of their mother!

The cheek of it!

Check out this picture of a Cheeky Grey Heron snacking on some juicy wee baby ducklings, freshly snatched from in front of their terrified mother duck!

The heron just went right up to the family below as they were getting what appears to be a family portrait taken at the local pond.



According to the Telegraph,  'The terrified mother duck tried desperately to shepherd her family of eight ducklings - born just the day before - into the safety of some reeds by the side of the lake in Dublin' So it's clearly a case of no luck for the Irish duck...

Quack and then baby duck number 2 was eaten

The Great Grey Heron then proceeded to taunt the fast diminishing duck family by swinging the duck from it's bill. It was definitely not a When Harry Met Sally Moment.

The defeat of the not so mighty ducks was snapped by duck lover Paul Hughes. "The first sign of the heron was the pandemonium it caused on the lake," explained Paul. "It swooped over the length of the lake and all the ducks started quaking loudly in alarm..."

It sounds like ducks need to sharpen up their game. Here's a picture of a seagull eating a baby duck. Hmmmn, they must be tasty wee birds eh? All this duck eating reminds of this picture of a heron eating a snake eating a fish! Of course, it's not all win win for Heron....

You'd need a homebrew made with finings after that I reckon!

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Tuatara: Living Fossils

Hi, I'm Terry Tuatara, I breathe only once per hour!

The tuatara is New Zealand's famous gift to the World because it is the only survivor of an ancient group of reptiles that roamed the earth at the same time as dinosaurs.

The relatives of tuatara died out about 60 million years ago which is why the tuatara is called a ‘living fossil’.

Tuatara are famous for feeding on the New Zealand Weta but they predominantly prey on; including beetles, crickets, and spiders.

Their diet also consists of frogs, lizards, and bird's eggs and chicks like baby petrel which they find unprotected in nest burrows.

Weta ya reckon? Nice picture?

Tuatara once lived throughout the mainland of New Zealand but rats and people drove them to extinction there.

They are now found only on 37 off-shore islands and mainland islands and specific entities like the Karori Sanctuary.

There are two species. Sphenodon punctatus is the Cook Strait tuatara which live on Stephen's Island in the Marlborough Sounds.

The Northern tuatara, Sphenodon punctatus punctatus, is a sub-species which live on offshore islands around the north of the North Island.

The total tuatara population on all these islands is estimated to be between 50,000 and 100,000.

You wanna share my baby Petrel?

Tuatara are are cousins with Komodo Dragons, in the sense they are living relatives of the ancient dinosaurs.

Extra for Experts: Tuatara are known to have a low sex drive - this Tuatara took one hundred years before he popped his cherry!

1 comment birds, lizards, tuatara

The blood of the vulture's dinner was dark and rich, like cherry red...

When I look as this vulture that's bathed in blood after feeding, I'm kind of glad that I have no idea what dead animal has suffered the ignominy of being eaten by a walking cliche.

I saw this picture on reddit but didn't copy the link so I have no context of the feeding (though I suspect it was something horrific like these petrels got up to) but I note two things.

The first is the look on this bird.

He has just eaten the eyes and guts out of some poor dead beast and yet he's still all damn business. There's no hint of joy displayed even though he's managed to grab a bite to eat.

Second thing to note, is the work of the photographer.

I have no idea what their name is or when or where this picture was taken but hats off to them, it's an incredible capture. The quality is amazing but the eye capturing part of it is that single drop of blood that has dripped from the vulture's beak and is forever caught hanging in that moment.

It's a visceral reminder that nature is indeed beautiful and that carnage results.

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Petrel eats the eye out of a dead seal and then puts his whole head in the socket...

Petrel eats the eye out of a dead seal and then puts his whole head in the socket...

Who knew that the Southern Giant Petrel was so into offal?

This picture of such a bird putting his whole head into the eye of a dead seal caused quite the stir on reddit:



This picture was taken by one Natlie Tapson, she's put a few more of this odd feeding time here. Well we say it's odd but that's only because we haven't seen this combination before.

It's actually a perfectly natural thing to occur - nature is always cleaning up after itself.

It does look like something out of a horror movie though, that second bird is just bathed in seal blood and he looks pretty evil...

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The 'I'm still alive' Bird

This is just creepy. This harrier bird has totally dominated what looks like a seagull and appears to have eaten his neck feathers and skin off. This left the bird looking rather odd....

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Backyard chicken eating a bird

A Redditor's chicken eating a bird in it's backyard. So much for scratching at worms...

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Octopus eating a seagul

I'd like to think the Octopus was laying in way amongst the murky depths before it rose up and snatched this unsuspecting seagull and took it back from whence it came like some kind of B movie.

The picture was taken by Ginger Morneau of Langford, a suburb of Victoria, British Columbia. it case it wasn't clear, it's an octopus eating a bird.

Taking snaps of the battle between the beasts while out on a run, she noted the seagul was ' was fighting actively' the octopus as she came across the two. She had  time for some quick snapping before the bird was taken to the depths below and eaten by the probably well pleased octopus. Time then to read this guide on making good homebrew.

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Heron birds cannot read, here's proof

Clearly this heron was kicked out of Heron School before it learnt to read. Here he is, clearly fishing in an area that is clearly marked as no fishing. Useless.

What is it with cheeky birds thinking they can fish anywhere they like?

This picture was snappped Graham Hiscock at a pond in Bushy Park near Hampton Court Palace, UK.

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Kingfisher eating a stone loach

The Kingfisher bird is one of nature's finest creations. They are so cute and they also just don't give a fuck about the rules.

Here's one eating a stone loach. It looks bloody disgusting. Down the hach!

This picture was photographed by a gentleman with an expensive camera called Steve Hatch.

Leave a Comment birds, kingfisher, stone loach