Photos

You are looking at the Brazilian wandering spider (Phoneutria nigriventer), the most venemous spider on earth...its venom is 18 times more potent than that of
the black widow! Only 0,006 mg will kill a mouse!
I filmed this guy on a night walk through the jungle near Puerto Maldonado in the Amazon basin. It measured about 7-8 cm in diamter, and, unlike the aggressive venemous "jumping spiders", it just sat there for me to photograph...not moving a muscle for 15 minutes. I approached to within 10 cm and used a macro setting on the Olympus 550. Our guide cautioned me, however, to approach VERY slowly. No antidote is known, and had it bitten me, who knows....?