Tarantulas are very strong spiders. They pounce on their prey and hold it still with their legs while their fangs inject poison. The poison paralyzes the prey and a special fluid from the spider's stomach digests the soft parts. The spider then sucks up the insides of its victim's body.
Prehistoric predators continue to thrive
Prehistoric predators continue to thrive Dr. Paul Riegert, a retired University of Regina
entomologist, says that it is mosquitos rather than dinosaurs that
are the real prehistoric predators in modern society. Riegert
estimates that mosquitos have been around for 60 million years and
are survivors whose reproductive capabilities far exceed our own.
Mosquitos have a very short life span ranging from 3 to 15 days,
but can lay a large number of eggs which can lie dormant for years
waiting for the perfect conditions to hatch. Female mosquitos need
a protein that can be found in blood to feed their eggs. Riegert
says that there are 120 different types of mosquitoes in Canada and
about 3,000 species world-wide. The main difference between the
different varieties is that most species do not attack humans and
actually prefer to feed on birds, salamanders and frogs. The dozen
varieties that actually prefer humans insert a razor sharp beak
into the skin, treat the bite with an anticoagulant-bearing saliva,
and finally suck up the blood. Mosquitos can transmit diseases such
as malaria and dengue fever to humans and can also transmit equine
encephalitis to horses and heartworm to dogs.
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