I was playing on Facebook yesterday evening. Just as I thinking of something amusing to write on a friend’s wall, I saw a frantic movement rush out from behind my temporarily-placed cork board. I made an involuntary yelp (which was, lets be honest, a scream), stumbled backwards, tipping over my chair and desperately fought with the wicker and metal as I tried to escape the monstrosity that had invaded my relaxed calm. I partially composed myself and considered if I was brave enough to catch this wild savage in a pint glass and throw his eight-legged ass out of my room.
In the end, after some more nervous laughing and involuntary nosies, the spider - an easy category 2 – went out the window and crashed onto the driveway outside my room.
Not that I’m scared of spiders.
As part of my new job I'm off to the Amazon to collect samples from wild discus fish. I will fly with the PhD student to Manaus in Amazonia, Brazil, then get a 1 day boat trip up the Rio negro to a town called Barcelos. This is one of the main hubs from where discus fish are caught to be sent off to aquarium shops, and will be our base for about 6 weeks. Ive been writing the risk assessment for the trip and have had some fun in the dangerous animals section.
Basically, if you want to meet a nasty end at the hands (or mouth) of a wild animal, the sheer diversity of killers offered by the Amazon makes it the number 1 choice.
There are, of course anacondas:
and caimens (though the anacondas look a bigger threat):
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But in amongst them are the real nasties, like vampire bats- which seem to be experiencing a rabies pandemic and (unusually) attacking humans (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4398660.stm), toothpick fish- which detects the urea of your urine and swims up your urethra (thinking it’s a fish’s gill; http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=797) Brrrrrrrrrrr.
Not forgetting piranhas, electric eels, bullet ants, scorpions and spiders. The Amazonian forest is in fact home to the Goliath Bird-eating Spider- but he sounds like a right tiddler.
Still, its OK as I ain't scared of spiders.
4 comments:
Eeep!
Good luck with that, Buddy.
This makes me think of pitched battles in the garage with countless redbacks during my time in Perth.
Good luck, if I don't get to see you beforehand.
Keep up the blog.
Wow. I could only hope that any experiences with the bird eating spider would simply numb me to all other eight legged creatures (though I realy have no problems with octopii)... but I'm afraid my phobia doesn't work like that.
However, still sounds like a marvelous trip, nonetheless!
Cheers Toast- Not off till October, so ill hopefully catch you over the summer- Ive got a few Blog related questions to ask.
Princess: I also dont have a problem with Octopii- though Ive never had one run (or swim, maybe)out from under the sofa while Im watching TV, so maybe its not a fair comparison. Hopefully, since you expect there to be some eight legged freaks under the stove, any that do emerge will have lost some of their scaring power.
Hardware stores sell corks that are small enough to go down your...err...little thing. Can't remember how to spell it.
Good luck with the travels!! I have to say, rather you than me. Although I don't mind snakes so much...maybe.
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