I’m not necessarily somebody who likes to go through life with rose-colored glasses on but I will tell you that I enjoy looking on the bright side of things. At the same time, I tend to ignore the things that are bad as much as possible. Life is too short to worry about things such as nuclear war, global warming and what the person next-door might be doing. Yes, I do my part but I don’t stress over the small stuff.
When I saw these pictures and heard about what this Arizona man found, however, I was shaken to the core. I never even knew that such a thing existed but now that I do know it, I just can’t forget about it. It’s a spider – scorpion hybrid and it is perhaps the most frightening thing that I have ever seen in my life. A man in Arizona didn’t realize that they existed either but he had the unfortunate occurrence of finding out because he actually found one in his home!
I know what you’re probably thinking, this is just one of those things that turn out to be an innocent spider with some creative photography. I’m here to tell you that it actually is a close cousin to the spider and to a desert scorpion. I might just not sleep tonight.
Officially, it is known as a camel spider or a wind scorpion. It has certain traits that are associated with both a spider and a scorpion. It has large pinchers and a jaw so it looks like the scorpion but it is classified as an arachnid.
This Phoenix man came across the creature in his home in Arizona. He has lived there for 37 years but he had never seen one in his local area.
They look like they have 10 legs but they really only have eight. The other two legs are appendages known as chelicerae. They make up the spider’s mouth and are actually used for transferring sperm to the female reproductive tract.
By now, you probably have lost your appetite or at the very least, are starting to itch as if something is crawling on your skin. To top it all, it has the largest jaw to body ratio of any animal!
This camel spider is able to grow big enough so we can eat small rodents, lizards and birds.
This homeowner is going to be looking for an exterminator right away, saying: “We do have a small pet, and I wouldn’t want anything to hurt her, she’s kind of old.”
There is a bright side to the story. They may look terrifying but camel spiders are not venomous. They are unlikely to hurt you if you do happen to find one.
Of course, knowing that they are harmless will not stop us from screaming like a little girl and running away if we see one in real life.
One other thing; I have a hard time killing a regular size spider so I couldn’t imagine having to squash one of these. I guess Arizona is not a place where I’ll be living.