Giant Centipede Doesn't Respect Food Chain

The food chain, while informal, does tend to have a few rules. Chief among them is the general consensus that those of us with backbones get to eat the ones that don't (I am in favor of this being a rule, even if it isn't, owing to the fact that I, and most of you reading, have backbones). Unfortunately, no one bothered to tell the Giant Amazonian Centipede about this little rule. He tends to enjoy eating such things as mice and bats.

Yes, that mouse is in trouble. The Giant Centipede grows over a foot long (see first picture for scale - no that's not me, I'd be way to chicken), and is extremely venomous. Mice are easy, he just has to sneak up behind them. Bats are a bit tougher, seeing as the Giant Centipede isn't content to catch them on the ground. Instead, he nabs them in flight.

He does this by climbing onto cave ceilings and hanging down. Then, when a bat flies by, he grabs it and bites. His venom is so powerful that the bat is killed instantaneously. It takes him an hour or two to eat, but after that, I think he deserves it. Watch a video of him in action below.

Strangely, people have been adopting them as pets recently. If you decide to follow them, remember

extreme care must be taken while handling them due to the fact that the slightest trace of the venom can cause a reaction on the skin. Fortunately, the poison from the Scolopendra gigantea is insufficient to kill a healthy human adult. The alarmingly massive centipede can, however, cause symptoms such as local sharp pain, swelling, chills, fever, weakness, and uncontrollable running-away-and-screaming.

Pictures courtesy of Cracked.com(NSFW/18+) and Damn Interesting.

Youtube video courtesy of user Twinkdizogg