Giant Camel Spiders - Hoax Analysis

Story:

Subject: Read the Text First!

These things are huge!
They run 10 mph, jump three feet, are a nocturnal spider, so only come out at night unless they are in shade. When they bite you, you are injected with Novocaine so you go numb instantly. You don’t even know you are bitten when you are sleeping, so you wake up with part of your leg or arm missing because it has been gnawing on it all night long.

If you are walking around and you bump something that is casting a shadow over it, and the sun makes contact with it, you better run. It will instantly run for your shadow, and scream the whole time it is chasing you.

PS. The one on the bottom is eating the one on the top. These are spiders found daily in IRAQ by the troops. Imagine waking up and seeing one of these beauties in your tent!!

Other Versions

1. And you thought we had spiders in Willits?! this is an example of an Iraqi camel spider. While there were reports of a few spider bites during the various Iraqi wars they were actually quite rare and mainly caused an infected boil like swelling. They can move pretty fast about 10 mph. They were a definite feature of many of our troops’ experience in Iraq.

2. From someone stationed in Baghdad. He was recently bitten by a camel spider which was hiding in his sleeping bag. I thought you’d like to see what a camel spider looks like. It’ll give you a better idea of what our troops are dealing with. Enclosed is a picture of his friend holding up two spiders. Warning: not for the squeamish!

This picture is a perfect example of why you don’t want to go to the desert. These are 2 of the biggest I’ve ever seen. With a vertical leap that would make a pro basketball player weep with envy (they have to be able to jump up on to a camels stomach after all), they latch on and inject you with a local anesthesia so you can’t feel it feeding on you. They eat flesh, not just suck out your juices like a normal spider. I’m gona be having night mares after seeing this photo!

Analysis:

Many stories relating to these Camel Spiders started spreading since the time of Gulf war in 1990-91, primarily circulated by the U.S soldiers deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Although they look dangerous, most of these stories about camel spiders are not facts. They are not really dangerous to humans.

Camel Spiders, also called Solifugae, wind scorpions, sun spiders or solifuges are named so because, like Camels they are generally live in sand deserts, and they are not exactly spiders as such, but are an order of animals belonging to a class called Arachnida. They are different from normal spiders, like for example, their breathing system is with trachea, similar to that found in insects. This kind of breathing system allows for a relatively fast uptake of oxygen whenever necessary, and thereby giving the camel spiders the ability to move fast. Their wild diet would consist of small lizards, invertebrates, insects, rodents and small birds. Contrary to the messages saying they are only found in middle eastern countries like Iraq, Afghanistan and Baghdad, camel spiders are also found in southwest U.S. and Mexico.

It is a fact that camel spiders can bite with those deadly looking jaws, and if they do, it will be painful and there will also be a possibility of infection, but not venomous in any way. A soldier reported in the reference section below is seen to have been bitten by a camel spider while he was sleeping. He realized it only when he woke up to see a large lump on his arm. However, the wound subsided with regular dressing and strong dose of antibiotics. These camel spiders do not contain any venom as such, but they do utilize their digestive fluids to liquefy the flesh of their prey, to make it easy to suck in the remains. Mentioned below are some of the common myths about camel spiders, followed by actual facts.

Myths

Camel spiders can be as large as a dinner plate or a frisbee.
They can move with speeds over 30 mph, also screaming as they run.
Camel spiders can jump up to three or four feet high into the air.
Camel spider’s venom acts as an anesthetic to numb down their prey.
Camel spiders are named so because they eat stomachs of camels.

Facts

Camel spiders can grow as large as 8 inches, some reports say they can grow up to 12 inches, including the length of their legs.
Top speed of camel spiders is around 10 mph, which is definitely fast for such small creatures.
Like their size, the jumping ability of camel spiders is also exaggerated.
Camel spiders do not have any venom.
Camel spiders are named so because they are generally found in sand deserts.

The picture in the message above actually shows a closer shot of the “two” camel spiders attached to each other, which gives it a much bigger look than it actually is. The sleeve of the soldier on right side gives an indication of the actual size of the spiders. The video above shows a live camel spider caught on camera by a man in desert. You can also see couple of pictures of camel spiders above.