It’s probably hard to picture any kind of spider devouring a full-grown bat, but believe it or not, there are such 8-legged creatures that exist. Researchers Martin Nyffeler from the University of Basel (Switzerland) and Mirjam Knornschild from the University of Ulm (Germany) discovered 52 individual reports of bats caught by spiders, both in actively hunted as well as trapped in webs. 29 of these stories had never been published before. Continue reading for more pictures and information.
According to Oddity Central, “In most of the incidents recorded by Martin and Mirjam, the spiders were quite large, 10 to 15 cm legspan and one to seven grams in weight. A majority of the spiders were nocturnal web builders, spinning webs up to 1.5 meters across. Occasionally, groups of spiders got together to build several interconnected webs. Most of these webs were found near buildings inhabited by bat colonies. Only 12 percent of the spiders were able to catch bats without the aid of webs.”
