Australian Reptile Park Receives Massive 'Megaspider' with Fangs from Mystery Donor

Natasha Dado
·2 min read
Australian Reptile Park Receives Massive 'Megaspider' with Fangs from Mystery Donor

A large funnel-web spider donated to an anti-venom program in Australia has made history.

To date, it is the largest funnel-web spider to be donated to the Australian Reptile Park, stretching 8 cm. long.

However, there are a lot of unanswered questions surrounding who donated the spider, nicknamed "Megaspider" for its size.

As part of the park's anti-venom program, it encourages people to safely catch and donate funnel-web spiders.

Megaspider, who has fangs stretching 2 cm., was turned in to one of the drop-off points around Sydney, the Central Coast and Newcastle in an unlabeled container, leaving it untraceable, according to a news release from the park.

Megaspider's size has been making national headlines, with the Australian Reptile Park comparing it to a tarantula.

Megaspider
Megaspider

The park stated that the creature also has "the capacity to bite through a human fingernail."

The spider was likely found and captured recently due to rainy and humid conditions in the area, which funnel-web spiders can thrive in.

"Having Megaspider handed into the venom program is so amazing, in my 30-plus years at the Park, I have never seen a funnel-web spider this big," said Michael Tate, Education Officer of the Australian Reptile Park, per the news release.

"She is unusually large and if we can get the public to hand in more spiders like her, it will only result in more lives being saved due to the huge amount of venom they can produce. We are really keen to find out where she came from in hopes to find more massive spiders like her."

In the meantime, Megaspider is certain to leave behind an impressive legacy: spiders donated to the park take part in a program that actually combats their deadly ways.

"The venom milked by staff is turned into antivenom which saves up to 300 lives per year," read the release from the park. "The Australian Reptile Park is the only facility in Australia that milks funnel-web spiders for their raw venom to be made into lifesaving antivenom."