Talk:Goliath birdeater

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Etymology[edit]

Why are they called birdeaters? --sin-man 10:20, 20 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Simply because they have been seen to have been eating birds. SBKT 16:46, 25 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]
The Goliath Bird-Eating spider, or the "Goliath Fucking Bird-Eating Spider" by those who have actually seen one, doesn't eat only birds - it mostly eats rats and insects - but they still call it the "Bird-Eating Spider" because the fact that it can eat a bird is probably the most important thing to know about it. If you run across one of these things, like in your closet or crawling out of your bowl of soup, the first thing somebody will say is, "Watch it, man, that thing can eat a fucking bird."
I don't know how they catch the birds. I know the Goliath Fucking Bird-Eating Spider can't fly because if it could, it would have a different name entirely. We would call it "Sir" because it would be the dominant species on the planet. None of us would leave the house unless a Goliath Fucking Flying Bird-Eating Spider said it was okay.

Does anything eat them? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.192.68.140 (talk) 23:10, 7 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Chuck Norris, maybe. While watching a football game. McGehee (talk) 06:48, 25 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
people do BBC Human Planet (134.160.83.108 (talk) 04:22, 4 March 2011 (UTC))[reply]

Can they jump?[edit]

Nice article. I came here to find out if they could jump though. If they can does anyone know how high or far?Schnizzle 12:54, 27 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

No, they can't, that's why it's not mentioned in the article. They're too large and heavy to jump.Faerie Queene (talk) 13:18, 26 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, but in the Wild. If they do as a pet and fall, there abdomen could rupture. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.230.229.20 (talk) 19:58, 8 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Depends on the severity of the fall. But in general, large arthropods like tarantulas don't jump.

Eh[edit]

The pictures kinda suck. Can we do better? 97.103.96.202 (talk) 14:35, 5 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

In fact, the second and third picture show another species, T. stirmi, as evidenced by the lack of hairs on the patella ("knee"). First picture is indeed T.blondi. 87.214.33.160 (talk) 21:54, 25 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Is that really the diagnostic feature for these two species? If you can provide a peer-reviewed source for this as a differentiating feature, I can go ahead and rename the misidentified images. Dyanega (talk) 00:18, 26 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Plagiarism[edit]

This article plagiarizes parts of the webpage: http://www.worsleyschool.net/science/files/biggest/spider.html, and that is just what I found after about 5 minutes of looking around. It doesn't matter if the page I found is the original writer or not, the words are nearly exactly the same.

Please have the decency and respect to write the information in your own words. ...and people wonder why Wikipedia is considered a bad source for school and university projects/reports. 24.141.76.19 (talk) 19:53, 18 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Wat[edit]

"[...]these spiders have up to a 32 foot long leg span[...]"

I'm guessing that isn't correct, but I don't know what it should say, 3.2 feet? Woscafrench (talk) 00:28, 3 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

What are you, nuts? A 3 foot spider? It should say 32 cm. Gaiacarra (talk) 16:32, 4 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Well, now it says 21 cm, which can't be right because here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heteropoda_maxima we find that the giant huntsman spider has a leg span of 30 cm, which would make it larger by legspan than the Goliath Birdeater. So, what is the Birdeater's true legspan? 76.104.236.171 (talk) 07:02, 4 July 2009 (UTC)traviswichtendahl[reply]

@Woscafrench The Giant huntsman spider has the biggest LEGSPAN, but the Goliath Birdeater is the HEAVIEST spider. Wikifan153 (talk) 08:37, 13 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Species name[edit]

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't it standard Wiki format to only include the first letter of the Genus. I mean to match the rest of the site it should be "T. Blondi", no?--72.241.211.115 (talk) 16:31, 24 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The first time the genus is mentioned it should be written in full. Thereafter, it is normally abbreviated to the initial. Syneil (talk) 20:53, 22 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]


Look up cane spider and just see how big they are. Maybe three feet! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.88.228.187 (talk) 23:50, 25 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Capitalise proper name[edit]

Can someone with the knowledge/skill pls change the article title to Goliath Birdeater (both caps), the spider's proper name. Cheers Bjenks (talk) 03:31, 21 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah I will sooner or later. I am the smartest girl in my school and I am only in year 5. How awesome?? Just ask me a question and I am 100% sure I can answer it.
From, SmArTeSt-GiRl-In-ScHoOl121.221.90.94 (talk) 08:19, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
In general, according to Wikipedia:Naming conventions (fauna), common names of animals are not capitalized, except for those words which are a proper name – for example, North Atlantic right whale, or, since "Goliath" is a proper name, this spider should be called Goliath birdeater. One exception is for WP:WikiProject Birds, which has adopted the convention to require capitalization of each word in the common name of a species (see Wikipedia:Naming conventions (birds) for details). Capitalization is also permitted (but not required) for the common names of Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) and Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies), but is not permitted for those of other insects or of other animals. I will make the change.  Grollτech (talk) 02:54, 5 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

How Big?[edit]

How big are these spiders? Big enough to eat birds i guess. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.88.228.187 (talk) 23:48, 25 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Diet[edit]

The first paragraph says that they primarily eat birds. The Diet section says they don't. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.182.99.155 (talk) 14:23, 17 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Females always mate...[edit]

What, they don't eat or sleep? And they live for 25 years? That's a lot of mating. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 1.178.50.42 (talk) 09:20, 19 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Enigmatic statements[edit]

"Feeding of the Messina species is discouraged..." The Messina species of what? Is it a cockroach, cricket or spider? "...risk of the tarantula becoming a tool." I'm assuming this means something to people who keep spiders but exactly what it might mean is beyond me. 197.87.223.104 (talk) 18:47, 2 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Best sentence ever[edit]

In response to threats, Goliath birdeaters stridulate by rubbing setae on their pedipalps and legs. 96.61.81.157 (talk) 14:37, 17 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]

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Language Usage and Overall Content[edit]

This article is overall interesting article and has some good general information. I believe that there could be a more in depth discussion on the social (or non social) behavior, especially since they live for so long. Is there a known understanding of how the spiders compete for their burrows and territories? These behaviors are important knowledge to share if they are available because they can help to give significance to their mating, foraging, and rearing behaviors. On a different note, I feel as though this article had some casual language that could be cleaned up a bit to help this be less biased and that much more informative. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Shaynarosenbloom (talk • contribs) 02:41, 7 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Behavioral Ecology Assignment[edit]

This entry could be further supplemented with the addition of 3 more categories: Mating, Parental Care, and Social Behavior. While there is a Behavior category for this entry, it only largely focuses on the defense mechanism and feeding (typical diet of the spiders). More information on their social behavior could certainly highlight how these spiders potentially work in groups to facilitate their “opportunistic predatory behavior,” especially considering their wide spanning diet. A category on mating would be helpful in understanding their reproductive cycle, and how they maximize production of the best quality eggs, perhaps leaning towards specific eggs, in terms of size or mass. Finally, additional information on parental care would tell the readers what specific mechanisms or steps these spiders take to ensure their reproductive success and reduce their offspring mortality. Parental Care is important in understanding how natural selection works. Dyklee (talk) 04:07, 7 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

In Popular Culture: Earth vs. the Spider[edit]

Potential content for "In Popular Culture" section:

In the 1958 film Earth vs. the Spider, the titular spider is referred to as a "birdeater." EricE (talk) 03:25, 31 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

What do they eat[edit]

Birds I guess 47.196.109.97 (talk) 03:54, 15 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

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