‘World’s Deadliest Spider’ May Actually Help Save Its Own Victims

One of the world’s deadliest spiders is swapping titles for that of one of the world’s most heroic spiders.

Colossus, a funnel web spider measuring more than three inches across and found on the Central Coast in New South Wales, has found a new home at the Australian Reptile Park where he’ll start giving venom for a cause, Fox News reports.

It is reported that Colossus, the largest male funnel web spider the park has ever received, will be milked for his venom as part of the reptile park’s anti-venom program, which helps up to 300 people every year, in an effort to create life-saving antidotes for the bite of the Australian funnel web spider.

The Sydney funnel web spider, one of only 40 species of funnel web found in Australia and known to be the world’s deadliest arachnids, can kill a human in just 15 minutes from a single bite. The spiders can grow up to four inches across and have fans strong enough to piece a toenail. Its venom short-circuits the nervous system, causing synapses and nerves to go into overdrive, which results in a racing heartbeat, high blood pressure, and breathing difficulty. If not treated with anti-venom, those bitten will die.

Since the funnel web anti-venom was created in 1981, not a single person has died as a result of a bite from the deadly spider.

“January and February are the peak times when male funnel-web spiders are out trying to find females to mate and given that only males can be milked we really encourage local communities to hand them into the Australian Reptile Park or to participating hospital drop off centers within this peak season,” Liz Vella, Head Curator at the Australian Reptile Park, said after the park received a web funnel spider named Big Boy last year. “Funnel-web spiders only live for 12 months so we’re constantly needing to re-stock our males. They’re often found in sheltered, shady spots, which are always cool, humid and often damp.”

Colossus is just one of several hundred arachnids participating in the anti-venom program, and he isn’t the first Australian spider to make headlines in recent months.

Earlier this month, Australians had people across the world freaking out on social media after they began sharing images of Huntsman spiders, which can have a leg span of anywhere from five inches to 12 inches depending on the species.