Piotr Naskrecki, an entomologist and photographer at Harvard University’s Museum of Comoparative Zoology discovered the world’s largest spider, the South American Goliath birdeater (Theraphosa blondi) while taking a walk in a rainforest in Guyana. He describes the colossal arachnid not as a brown, furry mammal, but “an enormous, puppy-size spider.”
Its leg span can reach up to a foot and the spider can weigh more than 6 oz. And it has a distinct sound. “Its feet have hardened tips and claws that produce a very distinct, clicking sound, not unlike that of a horse’s hooves hitting the ground,” Naskrecki wrote on his blog, but “not as loud.”
