The wild animals that live among us

I find them fascinating and fabulous
but I am not Australian.

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Hiker bitten in the arm by a bear :– It is rare, very rare
A hiker has been bitten in the arm by a bear in Jarfjord in Finnmark. The Norwegian Nature Inspectorate has gone to the scene to investigate.

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My BF and I have each been adopted by lickle jumping spiders. They are charming.

I was never not an arachnophobe. They must have killed me in another lifetime.

I can’t look at them, even film & photos, let alone AFK, without shuddering at least once, except for our little jumping spiders, and the peacock jumping spiders. Man, type about beautiful plumage - and they have those phancy phlaps on 2 of their back leggies.

When I was in high school, we did make friends with a house spider who lived behind the soap in our bathroom. S/he’d come out and look at us, and/or and dance around on the soap whenever we went in there. S/he was never in the way when we’d use the soap.

Of course I named them Boris.

ETA - and this stuff ain’t arachnophobe-phriendly:

My Suthun Coliforniyahn BF was almost killed by a black widow. He sat down and leaned against a fence, drinking soda during a break in a tennis game with friends. The spider rushed him from outta nowhere and bit him. He was in the hospital for over a week, and they didn’t know if he’d make it during the first five days.

I managed to kill one in his house. I did the ‘look at it without directly looking at it’ thing, and smashed it with a shoe. My BF and his bestie were so proud.

I was rushed by several big, hairy black ones in our basement here.

I’d finally worked up the courage to go down and do laundry, armed with spider-killing spray.

A female had spun a huge web alongside the bottom step, and she’d often party with between 3-4 males. Seriously, the bitch had parties. The males’d dance around for her, which I’m sure was delightful for her, and fun for all of them, but not in MY house, you don’t!

I made my way down the stairs, absolutely terrified. I jumped off the penultimate step, and ran for the laundry room. two of them came running after me, and I sprayed and sprayed and sprayed them until at long last they quit moving. Then I zapped the others.

I dealt with the laundry, and could barely get my freaked ass to the steps and back up again.

I had to ask a friend to sweep them away for me a couple days later.

A spider that sounded like those leaped onto a former neighbor’s face and bit her on the cheek as she cleaned their basement. She went to the hospital. Her face was swollen for more than a week.

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can_i_interest_you

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The bear was disappointed. He prefers arms that are served well done.

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Has this been posted here? Do I owe somebody a frosty, bubbly beverage?

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D & I most recently made friends with a jumping spider each by rescuing them from a death worse than fate, by saving them out of the sink, and putting them in the plants who live in the window above the sink.

D was able to pet his, as the spider slept, suspended from a silken thread. He was able to V V gently boop their little snoot, and the spider didn’t even awaken.

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It sounds like D is on his way to being besties with the spider.

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Thank you ! A fuzzy hug is much needed after just telling that that story. I shook for hours afterwards, and my mom wasn’t at all proud of me.

Shoulda sprayed her, too.

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Oh, that was an esp sweet one. I only saw them once, but he saw them at least a coupla times every day.

My first one was also V sweet. We’d stare and stare at each other, and they’d wave their legs at me, and dance a little.

I saved the most recent one by convincing them to hop onto a tiny bromelliad, which I quickly returned to its resting place on a big Christmas cactus.

Maybe I’ll put the next one over in the dining room, on an orchid. [tiny spider voice, imitating Andy Warhol]“Ah, ah. So elegant! So exotic!”[/tsviaw]

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I moved to Australia with a pre-installed fear of spiders. Living here has taught me to appreciate them. The dangerous ones are distinct and it’s easy to tell what you’re dealing with after a quick glance.

I like Huntsmen: huge things that are harmless to people and charming in their way. Here’s one investigating my daughter’s Lego shark. It doesn’t get more Australian than Spider vs Shark. Blurred so arachnophobes don’t need to see.

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Yup, that’s a big one. Could take that spider out for a walk.

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that’s a goddamn land crab!
furry land crab vs. lego land shark.

also: crabs > spiders, unless we’re talking sushi. but spider roll sushi is really a crab, right?
i am confuse.
deep fried spider crab or deep fried tarantula?
the latter is not for me!

next up: jefe discusses the difference between shrimp and cockroaches. have you ever seen a deepwater bed of live shrimp?
yum?

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I think isopods visually look and behave closer to roaches. In Venezuela we would call them cucarachitas del mar (aka roaches of the sea). We would dig them up on the sea shore and hold them in your hand, it felt really weird :stuck_out_tongue: they like to burrow in the sand right at the water line. Apparently they’re a delicacy but that’s gunna be a no from me dawg.

image

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i recognize those guys. i reckon you could pop 'em into some hot oil and crunch 'em up like chapulines (locusts) and they might even taste shrimp-like.
just need plenty cerveza frio to wash 'em down, yeah?

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I wouldn’t say that i’m grossed out by them, i would say that i am perfectly happy letting them do their thing and have no desire to taste them. Now if the opportunity naturally presented itself where i could try some out i would, but can’t imagine that happening in my lifetime.

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Those are kinda cute and round-ish.

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Those aren’t isopods, where the legs (poda) are very characteristically all the same (iso). They’re decapods called mole crabs, closely related to squat lobsters and hermit crabs.

And yes, I know poda properly means feet, but that’s how it gets used in names anyway.

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Nice to know, i tried looking up more about them and i got lazy halfway :sweat_smile:

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We have those mole crabs in the beach here. They are really cool little guys. If you can put up with the frigid water, you can catch them by hand. When there are a lot of them burrowing in the surf zone, it looks like the very sand is alive with goosebumps.

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