I get the whole fiction part, it's a movie, blah blah blah! But, "Based on actual CREATURES that for years TORMENTED our armed forces"?! Bwahahahaha!!!
That alone tells me all about the "GREY MATTER" behind this movie. Sad.
It's Sun Spiders. They are harmless.
Now, if they only left out the "Based on actual creatures that have "TORMENTED" our armed forces" out of the summary i would have probably give this one a go.
The 'tormented' part is pretty funny, considering that there are dozens of pictures of soldiers holding the damn things and smiling for the camera.
"I was cured, all right."
I remember that picture of that giant one (photo shopped?) or two that was tied together of a few years back :) Yes, i have see numerous other pictures as you sated.
The only thing that makes one jump will be when one runs after you, as if its chasing you. But its only doing that to get into your shadow. Once its in your shadow it stays put. Fast buggers, too.
We have our myths here, too. Like nesting in your hair, but i never experienced that nor could i confirm that with any proof.
Cheers ;)
Yeah, I've seen that pic too. It wasn't photochopped, but more of a perspective issue. The camera was right next to the spiders while the solder is a few feet behind so they ended up looking like they were a foot long when they were really a few inches long. You can see the hand and sleeve of the soldier whos holding them for scale. Still pretty big spiders though. They appear to be about the size of his entire palm. Ick.
shareI was in Iraq and to me it seems like they amused the armed forces more than tormented. They have wicket sharp and strong pinchers so they could easily rip into your foot if you spooked them but other than that they were pretty cool.
shareOh yes, those fangs will pierce into skin, though i have held a few in my life time and have never been bitten. The hair is more off putting than anything else, or to say it feels for the lack of a better word just plain yukky :)
Whenever the family went to visit my parents on the farm all the women would sleep with hairnets, as it is said they could "shave" or bite off the longer hair, the females use hair for their nests. I have never seen this happen, but i do believe this to be true.
The names we use for the camel spiders here are red roman, sun spider, rooiman (red man), haarskeurders (hair shavers)
Many say they are not as fast as said. That i cannot agree with totally, cos they are extremely fast, albeit not "superfast"
I appreciate you, whom have been in Iraq to come and tell your side. I am happy you are back, safely!
Greetz from South Africa.
I was in Iraq too, and while we were told that they weren't venomous or harmful, they still scared the piss out of me. But seeing as I'm arachnophobic and freak out even when daddy-long legs are around, that's to be understood...lol.
I did have a buddy that would love to torment the hell out of me if he found one, was always sticking them close to me, and once put a dead on on my rack and when I sat down, and looked over to my pillow, I had to change my pants, then go punch him in the nards for good measure.
My husband talked about these things. He served overseas and woke up with one on him one time. They're not exactly harmless. They're like leeches. It's true they "terrorize" our armed forces, but, yes, in a humorous way.
share