Jessica sent me this famous photo of two camel spiders found by US troops in Iraq. It's been floating around the internet for quite some time, but I have been remiss in not including it in my repository of ugly.
I thought it'd be interesting to see what the US military had to say about this beast. Sure enough, the camel spider is featured prominently by the Armed Services Pest Management Board. Specifically, this arachnid is found on a section of their site called, "Field Guide to Venomous and Medically Important Invertebrates Affecting Military Operations: Identification, Biology, Symptoms, Treatment". Guess what? It turns out they are a nuisance - a painful one.
Photo courtesy: ASPMB
Jan 13, 2007
Camel Spiders and the US Military
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8 comments:
They aren't really as big as they look in that photo though...compare them to the shirt sleeve right next to them.
Still nasty little critters though. We stopped wearing flip flops on midnight bathroom runs when one ran across somebody's bare toes. Yummy.
Thanks for the nightmares, Justin.
THESE SCARE THE CRAP OUT OF ME. I DON'T CARE WHAT PEOPLE SAY, BUT I WOULD FLIP MY SHIT IF I ENCOUNTERED ONE.
That is soooooo NOT Charlotte A. Cavaticus...
--TwoDragons
First off, stop calling them spiders. They are an arachnid, but they're more closely related to scorpions, if anything. They're solifugids, or wind scorpions.
I've kept them as pets a few times. They get about 4-5" in length, which is a pretty decent size. They have no venom at all, but still pack a pretty mean bite (I don't know that first-hand, but I've witnessed it). They also have an amazingly bad attitude.
Overall, these are really facinating bugs. :)
Hey, I saw a California sun spidery critter last month! It was pretty darn tiny...but I realized what it was because the keyboard it was on was in very active use by me, which startled the critter and it stood tall (figuratively) and brandished its claws. I was so enraptured that I nearly forgot about the customer I was checking out.
I'm heading to Iraq in a few months and the thought of these guys in my sleeping bag scare me more than anything!
Hey, good luck out there.
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