Weird Animals...

This months installment of weird animals should be called "Creepy Crawlies to Scare the Pants Off a Kiwi".

The spider in this photo is a Huntsman Spider. Isn't he cute - not. This particular one was living under our kitchen sink.

Huntsman Spiders have 8 eyes, and can have a leg span of up to 30cm. Pretty big and scary!

They do bite, but only cause a small amount of pain and are not harmfully to humans. Huntsman don't use a web to catch their prey, but hunt them down - hence the name Huntsman.

They are actually good to have around the house (I am told!) because they eat insects you don't want inside.

But if the spider in this picture appeared in my house, I would be grabbing a cricket bat or can of spray - I'd rather have bugs than this any day!

Weird Animals in Australia

Back by popular demand - my Weird Animals in Australia segment.

The animal in the bucket that looks like a snake, is not actually a snake - it is in fact a legless lizard. To the average uninitiated person, it looks like a snake, slithers like a snake and is scaly like a snake. But it's a fair dinkum lizard.

You can see just below the head a tiny little leg (yes, I know, how can it be a legless lizard if it does actually have legs?).

The legless lizard, like all other Australian lizards, is non venomous, and can reach up to 60 cm long.

Humans vs Snails

I saw an interesting fact recently that snails can't resist beer.

If you leave a dish of beer out it will attract any snails in the area, who crawl in and drink until they can't drink any more. Apparently the snails will be so drunk they can't get out of the beer and drown.

Sounds like a typical night in an average Aussie pub!