Photo Captures Incredibly Disturbing Moment When Giant Spider Eats Helpless Bird

Animals | Trending

Photo Captures Incredibly Disturbing Moment When Giant Spider Eats Helpless Bird

Do you remember that song about an old lady who swallowed a fly? In the child's nursery rhyme, the old woman swallows animals that get progressively larger until she's swallowed a horse.

It's absurd, but it's how most people understand nature: big things eat small things.

Most people, that is, except Australians and this Golden Orb Weaver Spider who just ate a bird.

Spider expert, Joel Shakespeare, tells the Daily Mail that it's no surprise to see something like this in Australia.

"This particular spider can grow larger than a human hand, so if a bird gets caught in its web I'm not surprised it will start eating it," he said.

"It seems pretty obvious that the poor bird, a chestnut-breasted Mannikin (a type of finch), has flown straight into the web and not been able to free itself before the spider struck."

Apparently their webs are incredibly strong - strong enough to hold a struggling bird to the point of exhaustion. The huge spider waits until the bird tires itself out to strike, then it's game over.

If you saw this happening in your backyard, would you get close enough to snap a picture?

[h/t Daily Mail]