Terrifying footage of an giant fishing Spider battling against a hive of honey bees has surfaced online, and it will absolutely make your skin crawl.
The video was captured in Washington, USA. YouTube user Zaur Man shared the shocking clip with the caption: “When a fishing spider gets a bit handsy with a bee colony, things take a deadly turn. Because nature is harsh and cruel.”
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Instead of trapping its victims in a web like most spiders, the fishing Spider normally hunts its prey by using the surface tension of the water. Some creatures are even large enough to hunt small fish, according to The Sun.
The semi-aquatic creatures are typically found across North America, Europe, and New Zealand.
Man wrote, “These Spiders can often be found under the lids of my hives.”
At the beginning of the video clip, the enormous arachnid creature first went un-noticed by the insects. “Bees do not pay attention to this spider yet, because they do not see any danger,” Laur man wrote.
After the spider took down one of the honey bees, the tables immediately turned. “If the bees notice fast movements of the spider, they attack,” Man wrote.
While the fishing Spider seemed like a formidable foe, when the honey bees acted as a team, the hive was able overwhelm the creature. It’s hard to tell what was more terrifying, the spider itself or how ruthlessly the colony of honey bees attacked the arachnid.
The honey bees began stinging the spider to paralyze it. In a matter of seconds, the fishing spider was hardly visible as the swarm surrounded the arachnid.
“Honey bees will continue to attack as long as they sense any movements of the enemy,” the YouTube user wrote. “The bee venom paralyzes the spider within seconds, but the bees do not want to stop.”
Many Internet users that have seen the video are torn as to the exact method of execution that the bees are utilizing. Some have made the suggestion that the bees are stinging the spider to death, and others have claimed that the insects are “cooking” the spider in a process called “heatballing.”
“Heatballing” is when the insects swarm to create friction and heat around an attacker and increase its body temperature to levels that are lethal to the creature.
How would you react if you saw a fishing spider crawling towards you?
[H/T YouTube: Zaur Man, The Sun]
