Tarantula Hawk

Please do not read this post if you are squeamish. Or if you do not like bugs or spiders.

ok? Ready? If you are still with me, scroll on down.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

This is what I encountered on the road yesterday as I was driving in my driveway. That's a waspy looking thing dragging a tarantula. Notice that the tarantula's legs are not curled tightly to its body. Know what that means? Yeah, the spider is still alive. Just paralyzed. Nice. I was fascinated by this scene because this waspy thing, which I later found out is a Tarantula Hawk, was dragging this huge tarantula - uphill. Backwards. Really, really fast. Like crazy fast.

Later while telling the story to King, I googled and found out the name of the waspy thing. Unfortunately, I was right. The tarantula was still alive. If you like gross stories about the animal kingdom and its subsequent brutality, read about the Tarantula Hawk. I'm sure boys will love this type of thing. Princess and I? Not so much. It's straight off the shelf horror fiction ... only it's real. Not fiction.

This is a photo I got off the web. Ya'll, the thing is huge. Yikes. So nice to know s/he lives in the neighborhood. Where my daughter plays. (shudder)