They use them to seize their victims and turn them to pulp with a chopping or sawing motion. These hardy desert dwellers boast large, powerful jaws, which can be up to one-third of their body length. FeedingĬamel spiders are not deadly to humans (though their bite is painful), but they are vicious predators that can visit death upon insects, rodents, lizards, and small birds. Their top speed is estimated at 10 miles per hour. True, they are fast, but only compared to other arachnids. Photos that purport to show creatures six times that size have misleading perspective-the spider is invariably placed in the foreground where the lens makes it appear much bigger than its actual size. Size and SpeedĬamel spiders, also called wind scorpions and Egyptian giant solpugids (SAHL-pyoo-jids), are only about 6 inches long. Like spiders, they are members of the class Arachnida, but they are actually solpugids. The camel spider's history of misinformation begins with a misidentification. These creatures do not actually eat camels' stomachs or sleeping soldiers, and they are not so large-but the real camel spider is still an amazing predator. Myths and Rumorsįor many years, Middle Eastern rumors have painted camel spiders as large, venomous predators, as fast as a running human, with a voracious appetite for large mammals. Many tales were accompanied with photos purporting to show spiders half the size of a human. Camel spiders became an Internet sensation during the Iraq war of 2003, when rumors of their bloodthirsty nature began to circulate online.
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