Terrifying images show enormous spider eating a possum in Australia
A recently published set of photos on Facebook shows a terrifyingly large spider eating a possum at a cabin in Australia.
Justine Latton told Insider that her husband Adam was staying at a ski lodge in Mount Field with some friends several weeks ago when they saw the huntsman spider — a common arachnid in Australia — chowing down on a baby pygmy possum as the former hung from the cabin's ceiling. Justine shared photos of the predator and its victim with a Facebook group called Tasmanian Insects and Spiders last Friday.
"It was one of the biggest huntsman spiders he'd ever seen," she told Insider.
Although the huntsman spider preys on other insects, it does not usually target possums, making the one captured in Justine's photos extremely unusual.
"Pygmy possums are quite common up there, we reckon the spider probably just saw an opportunity and went for it," she said.
Justine added that her husband and his friends eventually caught the spider, which was about the size of an adult's palm, and its prey. Both animals were released into the wild.
"No spiders were harmed in the relocation effort," she joked.
As of Wednesday, the woman's photos have been shared almost 7,500 times and attracted over 100 comments.
