Transcript:

Today on Animal Fact Files we’re discussing camel spiders. Don’t forget to subscribe, and thank you to brandished nail for today’s request. First and foremost we feel the need to say that camel spiders aren’t deadly; they don’t eat camels or lay eggs in camels’ stomachs; and they don’t mean to chase people in order to attack them - most of the time, a camel spider seems to be chasing a person because the camel spider is seeking out the dark of that person’s shadow because camel spiders hate the sun. Their scientific name actually means something along the lines of “those who flee from the sun.” Also, camel spiders aren’t spiders. They aren’t scorpions either as one of their other common names, wind scorpion, would suggest. They’re even called hair cutters, because in South Africa there’s a myth they’ll become entangled in long hair and have to cut their way out with their long jaws. There are a lot of myths surrounding camel spiders because they look scary, but nearly all of these are false because camel spider can’t really hurt people. All the species scientists have studied thus far are not venomous. They are able to bite, but only the largest species can really cause any problems. Most camel spider species can’t even break human skin.

Speaking of the largest species, they aren’t like half the size of a human as some myths suggest. The largest camel spiders are at most six inches (15 centimeters) long, not including their legs, and most of them are an inch long (2.54 centimeters) or smaller. Any pictures showing them larger than this are probably made using forced perspective, like this picture of Chester.

Camel spiders look like they have five pairs legs, but the front set are their elongated pedipalps which are used to sense the environment. They’re generally found in desert-like areas, though they can be found in forests and woodlands. They live in most deserts around the world, though I guess Australia decided they weren’t deadly enough because they aren’t found there. They can cover more than a foot (30.5 centimeters) in a single second, but this is only for short bursts. Normally they would rather stay hidden during the hottest parts of the day, probably in an effort to conserve water. In dry places, they have to make sure they get enough moisture, though these guys usually do so through their diet.

Camel spiders are active hunters and eat other arthropods, earthworms, lizards, small rodents, and sometimes even birds. They chew their food, squirt digestive juices over it to break it down further, and suck it up with their muscular stomach. Muscular stomach… new band name. Camel spiders eat like Chester in that they eat as much as they can possibly fit inside their bellies. Sometimes these guys will even eat each other, and that’s why, after mating, the males leave behind their lady lover quick as they’re able. Mating in some observed species involves a male running up to a female, grabbing her around the waist in his jaws, and placing a spermatophore inside her using his teeth. Luckily for the girls, his teeth are smooth and not jagged like hers! She’ll lay somewhere between 50 and 200 eggs in a burrow, and some species will stay with their babies, while others just cover up the burrow and leave them.

Camel spiders generally don’t live past a year in age, especially if they run into birds, reptiles, bats and larger mammals including any humans who just don’t understand how fascinating these arachnids are.

For more facts on camel spiders, check out the links in the description. Give a thumbs up if you learned something new today, and thank you for watching Animal Fact Files.