Banana Spider, World's Most Venomous Animal, Terrifies British Clerk

Merry Old England hasn't been so merry lately. They've had spiders. First it was the non-poisonous camel spider. Now it is one of the most deadly spiders in the world, the banana spider.

As I reported in my article at Associated Content, "Camel Spider says Hello to British Family, They Say Goodbye," a camel spider came to Great Britain from Afghanistan in a soldier's bag. As reported by The Press Association, the banana spider came from South America in some bananas.

The Press Association article, "Deadly spider in Co-op bananas," goes on to say that a 25-year-old mother of two, Kate Whitmore, ran into the spider while opening a box of bananas.

Whitmore, of Chatham, Kent, is quoted in the article as saying, "I picked the bunch up held it close to my face and thought, "What is that?" It wasn't a very nice spider."

I had never heard of a banana spider.

A banana spider is a spider that obviously hangs around bananas. It is of palm-size and ranks up there with the black widow and funnel-web spiders in terms of being deadly.

According to Wikipedia, the banana spider is also called "the Brazilian wandering spider" because it wanders along the jungle floors of Brazil in South America as opposed to staying in a lair or web. It is very dangerous. It is in the 2007 Guinness Book of World Records as the most venomous animal and, spider most responsible for human deaths.

The spider usually attacks children.

When Kate Whitmore found the banana spider, her store manager called the authorities to deal with it.

Ms. Whitmore went on to say in the report that when the spider was being captured "...it reared up hissing and put its fangs out..."

The officer dealing with spider, Anthony Pulfer, said in the article, "It was very aggressive and tried to go for me..."

Luckily, through the entire ordeal, no one was bitten although there was plenty of fear to go around.

I have had to deal with a black widow in my home and it was terrifying, however, the venom of the black widow in no way compares to that of the banana spider.

I have added a link at the end of this article which shows a banana spider "rolling a wasp," should you care to look.

Perhaps your wondering what became of the spider. According to the report, it was "put down." That gave me shivers. It sounded a lot like what they do to a rabid dog.

References:

http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jDtKg6E75S0jiInp7u2QBgrCbqtg
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/990022/camel_spider_says_hello_to_british.html?cat=8
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_wandering_spider
http://utube.smashits.com/video/fJH2KrCBB5U/Banana-spider-rolling-a-wasp.html