Massive Huntsman Spider Crawls Onto Quad Bike And Leaps At Man

A man in Australia was given one hell of a fright after a massive huntsman spider hurled itself at him. Watch here:

Metui Tongatua was on holiday in Queensland when he spotted the leggy arachnid crawling up his quad bike.

He promptly got off and started filming the beast as it crept along one of the handles.

But Metui was wrong to think he had got away from the supersized spider, because in a flash, it launched itself in his direction - prompting him to scream in the way that most of us would if a gigantic huntsman spider launched itself at us.

However, while Metui's response was perfectly natural, there isn't actually much to be scared of with huntsman spiders. I mean, they're massive spiders - and therefore scary - but they're not venomous and won't do you any harm.

Instagram/Metui Tongatua

Arachnologist Dr Lizzy Lowe, of Macquarie University, explained to 9 News: "Huntsmen don't have very good eyesight. They see light and dark and movement and that's about all.

"They will never intentionally run towards you because they're small and not highly venomous. They can bite you, but they won't do any harm.

"Huntsmen are super fast but they get confused, so if a huntsman is running towards you, it's confused.

"They're not aggressive spiders at all and they generally stay high up because that's where they're finding the food they want to eat."

Not aggressive, you say? Will never intentionally move towards you, you say? Tell that to Metui.

There's recently been a big surge in numbers of huntsman spiders in the country, and lots of Aussies have shared videos online of huge swarms of the creatures in their houses.

Spider expert Dr Robert Raven, of Queensland Museum, said the influx of arachnids could be due to recent heatwaves followed by rain.

He said: "Low pressure is one of the triggers for emergence from the egg sac. Low pressure is, of course, associated with high humidity. And that makes a very buffered environment for the young ones.

"Spiders go looking for milder environments in terms of heat and humidity. So inside a house it's usually good. There's usually some water around and they'll gravitate to that.

"We generate these wonderful situations which emulate what they find in the bush - hanging paintings on walls, absolutely fantastic. Great, narrow spaces for them.

"What we call houses, they call caves."

Nice not having 'em in our caves in the UK, isn't it?

Topics: Spiders, Community, Animals, Australia

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey