I had another post in mind for today, but I didn’t have time to write it. So you get this completely unrelated post instead.
So, I like carrots. Carrots are delicious. But I’m talking about raw carrots. I really dislike the texture of cooked carrots. But this post is not about me liking carrots. You’ll have to make the jump to see what I’m talking about. Oh, and all pictures link to the original article.
Look at her!
Isn’t she great? That is a New Zealand giant weta and she is enjoying herself a carrot (because carrots are delicious).
The giant weta are among the largest bugs, along with say the Goliath beetle (which I would like for a pet) or a white witch moth (which I would not like for a pet). This particular giant weta weighs about 2.5 ounces and has a leg span of about 7 inches. Giant wetas do not have wings.
Now then, I would really like one for a pet. I could feed it carrots. But they are very endangered. They’re too heavy to jump and I already mentioned that they don’t have wings, so they’re easy pickings for things like rats. It’s very sad, really.
So, I mentioned that the giant weta is among the largest bugs and I meant bugs as in insects. But if you wanted to include things like roly polies as bugs, then I’ll make mention of their giant cousin, the giant isopod. Look at this one.
Ta da! This one is nearly 30 inches in length. I like its reflective eyes.
And I guess an obligatory spider mention. Awhile back, they found the fossil of the largest spider in China.
It’s an ancestor of the largest web-weaving spiders we have around today, the golden orb weavers (a species that sometimes I have difficulty with, as I think a lot of them look kind of gross). You can relax though. The photo of the fossil makes the spider look bigger than it really is. It has a leg span of about 2.5 inches which is about the same size as the bigger golden orb weavers today.
Random moosages as I see fit. 