‘Crazy’: Terrifying battle between spider and wasp ends with a surprising winner
An Aussie mum filmed an orange spider wasp taking on a giant huntsman - and the outcome of the battle is guaranteed to disturb you.
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A mum has captured the bloodcurdling moment a wasp and huntsman spider faced off in a street battle - but it’s what happened after the fight that has Aussies squirming.
Emily Teede, an actor and singer from Sydney, filmed the clash as her kids watched on excitedly from a distance.
“Straya (Australia), where even spiders aren’t safe,” she captioned the clip on TikTok.
The two creepy-crawlies take a few fierce stabs at each other in the video before the wasp deals a final blow to the spider.
“Oh no, I think he’s been stung,” Ms Teede says as the huntsman feebly attempts to escape.
“Is the huntsman winning? Is the huntsman dead?” her kids ask.
“Yeah he's not looking good,” she replies.
The video has racked up thousands of views with people flocking comments to express their shock.
“You saw a wasp and a huntsman and your first instinct wasn’t to run?” wrote one person.
Another dubbed the video “Australia core”, adding it was the reason they “wont be visiting family in Australia anymore.”
“How come the spider got killed so easily, but I have to hit it SEVEN times for it to stop running?” questioned a third.
Several people were able to piece together what was happening in the footage, with one viewer correctly explaining: “The huntsman isn’t dead its paralysed.”
“The wasp will lay her eggs in it and the babies will eat it. it’s a hard life for a huntsman.”
Entomologist Dr Erinn Fagan-Jeffries, from the University of Adelaide, confirmed the spider’s chilling fate.
“This is normal behaviour for this group of wasps. This is a mum wasp who is just getting some food ready for her baby,” she told news.com.au.
“She will sting the spider to paralyse it, then drag it to a burrow she has dug in the ground, or some species use an existing spider burrow, and lay her egg on the spider before closing up the burrow.
“This way, when her baby hatches out (baby wasps are called a larva) it can eat the paralysed spider.
Huntsman spiders, despite their somewhat intimidating appearance, are not considered to be dangerous and while they do possess venom, their bite typically only causes mild effects.
There are nearly 300 species of spider wasps found throughout Australia and they are non-aggressive, solitary species that feed mainly on nectar, but hunt spiders to provide food for the wasp larvae.
Spider wasps are active during summer months and while they are renowned for their painful sting used to paralyse spiders, they have been known to attack humans when provoked.
Luckily, the spider wasp sting won’t paralyse or affect humans and can be treated with a simple ice pack.
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