A guest to a ski lodge in Tasmania, Australia's Mount Field National Park was in for the scare of his life when he bore witness to a massive huntsman spider devouring a tiny possum right in front of his eyes.
The man's wife, Justine Latton took to social media to share photos of the horrifying moment when the arachnoid was seen devouring the tiny marsupial. The photos show the spider clinging on to the hotel door with the tiny possum in its mouth. The image has since then, gone viral.
The images garnered varied replies on the Facebook group Tasmanian Insects and Spiders where Latton had shared the images. While some were genuinely shocked, others were not that convinced.
One user posted, "This looks set up. Both of them are dead, right? Are huntsmen even capable of biting through that? Les alone the spider web coming out of its back?" while another posted, "That is a damn big Huntsman and quite death-defying to hang off the wall like this while holding onto dinner."
Talking to People magazine, Justine said that it was one of the biggest huntsman spiders that her husband Adam had seen, adding Tasmanian pygmy possums are the smallest of the pygmy possums.
As for what happened after her husband took the photo, Justine revealed that the spider and the possum had to be caught and released outside.
Notably, huntsman spiders are named so because of their speed and mode of hunting. While their diet consists primarily of insects and other invertebrates, and occasionally small skinks and geckos, the Tasmania incident was a rare moment caught on camera.
