Queensland Museum spider experts explains why we shouldn’t be scared of spiders
IT’S no wonder most people have a crippling fear of spiders, with their threatening names and hairy bodies. But there could be a cure for the phobia.
IT’S no wonder most people have a crippling fear of spiders when they are given threatening names like funnel-web, redback and huntsman.
But a spider expert has set out to cure our creepy crawly phobias in just five minutes, using other spiders with more pleasant names like the Alien Butt spider, Golden Orb Weaver and the Disco-mirror ball spider.
Queensland Museum spider research scientist Robert Whyte argues there really isn’t a reason why we should be scared of spiders.
There have been no confirmed deaths from a funnel-web bite since 1979, a year before antivenene was introduced in 1980.
Mr Whyte said arachnophobia was triggered by a “warning face”, a look of disgust and horror combined.
“If someone around you makes that face when you are having an encounter with a spider, it triggers the fear. If no one is afraid of spiders near you, you don’t get it,” he told news.com.au.
“Fear of spiders is learned. It is not innate. It is one of those fears waiting to be ‘switched on’ — or not — in early childhood.
“In other cultures, like parts of Indonesia, where eating spiders is routine, this fear is not switched on.
“Even though fear of spiders, or arachnophobia, is an acquired fear, it is still very real. Some arachnophobes have lived severely limited and tortured lives because of their phobia.”
Mr Whyte said there were a lot of misconceptions and urban myths around spiders.
“The worst one is that white-tailed spiders cause flesh eating wounds. The urban myth originated in 1982 when Australian media researcher Struan Sutherland claimed the white-tailed spider as the culprit of severe skin ulcers and necrotic lesions,” he said.
Dozens of studies following up these claims have found no evidence that links white-tailed spider bites to flesh eating wounds and Mr Whyte said it was “simply bogus”.
He also said the daddy long-legs spider could not kill a person if it had large enough fangs to penetrate the skin as it’s venom is not powerful or dangerous.
Mr Whyte said people should be informed and cautious when it came to potentially deadly spiders like the Sydney funnel-web.
“If you get bitten by a Sydney funnel-web, which only occurs within a 100km radius of Sydney, call an ambulance, apply a pressure bandage, stay warm and calm. Don’t run about screaming or try to drive yourself to the hospital,” he said.
“Australian spiders have a bad reputation and are feared, even hated, to the point of making people sick from their own fear. This is simply not healthy or even helpful. If you ‘freak out’ in a car driving because you see a spider, it can be potentially dangerous, causing an accident.”
Mr Whyte — who co-authored the book A Field Guide to Spiders of Australia with QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute scientist Greg Anderson — said it could take as little as five minutes to completely cure arachnophobia.
“For years now we have been curing arachnophobia with the harmless Golden Orb Weaver, which doesn’t even have a defensive bite,” Mr Whyte said.
He said the spiders were impressively big but curiosity often got the better of people and the fear eased immediately.
“Their fear may still be triggered by a fast-moving big huntsman, but that is more surprise and unexpected sideways movement than true arachnophobia,” he said.