BBC News and other sources are reporting that a half-a-foot-long predatory bug popularly known as a "camel spider" apparently hitched a ride from Afghanistan in the luggage of a British paratrooper and frightened the soldier's family into fleeing their Colchester, England home.
Which is believable, given the creature's forbidding appearance and its Internet reputation as a high-jumping carnivore famed for attacking full-grown camels and eating their flesh (that last bit is untrue, by the way). Known to entomologists as a solpugid, the organism -- a member of the arachnid family but not really a spider at all -- is typically found in dry, desert regions, including Afghanistan.
What I'm skeptical of, however, is the family's stated belief that the camel spider killed their dog. Someone evidently saw the dog confront the wayward bug then run whimpering out of the room after it hissed at her. Awhile later they found the dog dead. "It seems too much of a coincidence that she died at the same time that we saw the spider," Lorraine Griffiths told a local newspaper. But the attending veterinarian was unable to establish a cause of death.
You see, camel spiders aren't venomous; they kill by crushing their prey with their enormous, powerful jaws. According to all the scientific sources I've consulted, they only feed on creatures their own size or smaller, like scorpions and cockroaches, and perhaps the occasional mouse or lizard. Though their bite is assuredly painful, solpugids aren't considered especially dangerous or deadly to any species except their prey.
My thought is that either the dog died of other causes and the family mistakenly attributed it to their unwelcome houseguest, or the creature wasn't a camel spider at all, but another, deadlier species instead. At last report, the culprit hadn't been captured. We probably won't know the truth of the matter until it is.
Read more about it:
• Camel Spiders Found in Iraq (Photo) - Urban Legends
• Spider Forces Family Out of Home - BBC News
• Stowaway Afghan Spider Kills Family Dog - CNN
• Paratrooper's Family Flees Home After Afghan Spider Kills Dog - The Guardian
• The Fierce Solpugid - Backyard Gardener
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Comments
The camel spider isn’t a spider, it is a solpugid and it is completely harmless. They can pinch but they aren’t venomous. They are also called sun spiders in the U.S. The large ones in photos from Iraq and Afghanistan are doctored photoes. They do not get very big.
I don’t know what killed the dog, but it wasn’t the camel spider.
Adding credibility to “Bugman” Richard. It’s also called a Wind Scorpion but resembles a spider in appearance. the front 2 “legs” aren’t legs at all. Strong jaws have a fairly painful bite, but cannot kill much of anything larger than an large insect. Fine more info here: http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7495.html
Wow, wow to reiterate information found in the article… heh.
This is my niece and her children that you are talking about and all I know is that NOBODY is helping them while her husband is away on tour fighhting in Afghanistan they have a spider/scorpian in their house and have had to leave their home their dog bella was healthy and well before seeing the creature and then she had to be put down because she became so ill when we phoned the vet to tell them we wanted a post mortum we were told “too late she already been cremated also my niece was told by the Army via her husband in Afghanistan to “wind her neck in and stop telling people about the creature” The army have tried every way you wouldnt believe to cover up this story WHY ??!!! have we got hundreds of these creatures in England now because the army do not sanitise their soldiers properly on their return to UK??? Ask yourself why cover up this story and offer no help whatsoever trust me the army have not been near let alone Fumigate the house as stated on news!!!
debbie elgram: wow, that’s some run-on sentence you’ve got there. ever hear of a “period”?
anyway, the dog definitely did NOT die of the bite of the camel spider, since the arachnid in question is not venomous. it was either bitten by something that is venomous, or it was coincidence that it died around the same time the family saw whatever creature they think they saw.
and, as is typical, here we are again with someone looking to place the blame on someone else for this misfortune. why can’t people take some responsibility for themselves? why can’t the soldiers look through their own belongings before returning home? why should the army be responsible for “sanitizing” them before they return.
please, get a grip.
What’s most suspicious to me is the complete lack of fact-checking on this one by multiple major new organizations:
CNN’s news piece states:
“The desert-dwelling camel spider, actually an insect rather than an arachnid, can run up to 25 kilometers (15 miles) an hour and reach 15 centimeters (6 inches) in length. Its bite is not deadly to humans but can kill small animals.”
That’s the wrong taxonomy, wrong velocity, a questionable size and “small animals” is vague and panic-mongering. There is a difference between “small animals” such as mice and lizards, and “small animals” sush as “dogs and cats”.
This has hoax written all over it.
The BBC report states that
“She said the spider was seen in her bedroom by her two elder children, aged 18 and 16, and an electrician working at their home.
“They identified the spider using the internet,” she said. “”
This is not a hoax and yes I am upset and angry about whats happened to my niece especially seeing them so upset and frightened. Lorraine is trying everything to sort this out so they can return to their home.
We also found a black spider in the bedroom the same day which was taken away by RSPCA when we telephoned to get results of their findings we were told it was a baby tarantula and they would forward the report, when it didn’t arrive we phoned back to be told that they “had made a mistake it wasn’t a tarantula” this was after the army had telephoned them. The army also told Lorraine to lie to her 4 year old and tell her they had caught the spider!
There is so much that you guys don’t know about this story which I won’t go into after reading your comments
Thanks for your support
this is not a hoax, wrong word actually, the word should be COVER UP. No one has been near the aforesaid family in terms of offering a solution to this problem.My own view is that we have a lot more of these coming into the country than the authorities are willing to admit to. as an afterthought, no money has exchanged hands concening this story.The family just need help to rid themselves of this bug, so that they can resume a normal life in their own home.Incidentally, i am lorraines uncle.
a camel spider is a spider and it has the most deadly bite known to man they can get as big as a large cat and the love the taste of dogs so it probably killed your dog
Would the evil clowns please stop scaring me? I have seen this kind of bug before, in my ‘new’ residence at the time, and it was extremely CREEPY. Extremely. I think it gave off some kind of undecipherable high pitched sound that you can’t hear-. I looked it up in a couple bug books, but got conflicting statements. I don’t think anybody knows. It positioned itself under a table and watched me all night. Hint: if you have nothing else–USE CARPET FRESH. Or whatever you have, like baking soda-it works like diotomatious earth-slivers their exoskeleton and they d-i-e. Along with any other buggies.
There is no way in hell the dog was killed by a camel spider debbie.
Ethier the dog died of some other causes, or it was NOT a camel spider. Camel spiders secrete NO VENOM what-so-ever. Therefore, the dog could NOT have died from a venomous bite.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOXvdfcct8g
This is a video that might explain more. Education is the key. Not saying you are stupid: the urban myths floating around about these things caused some massive amounts of parnoia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solifugae
Wikipedia can also offer some insight. Notice on the “Venom Controversy” at the bottom it makes the distinction the Solifugae in the test in question were not the Camel Spiders of Afghanistan.
Also CNN editors are tards. The camel spider IS an arachnid, though not a spider. Just like a scorpian is an arachnid and not a spider.
Hope that helps.
Debbie you are retarded… You make youself sound crazy. The damn army is not afraid of a camel spider, it’s an insect… It can’t kill a dog, never will kill a dog, end of story. People who study these creatures know way more than a lady who’s all worked up over something so rediculous, so why don’t you google or YouTube a damn camel spider and learn something.
That’s some scary stuff
I read that these creatures have been around since the carboniferous period and oxygen levels were high at that time so insects and arachnids would have been bigger so camel spiders would have been big maybe they’re still big and take a long time to grow.