Bird-Eating Spider Deadly 60 Bites

On Deadly 60, I've had loads of incredible animal encounters.

Here's just one of my many favourites.

This is Deadly 60 - Bites.

We're in one of my favourite countries in the world, Brazil.

It's about here.

This is the Amazon rainforest.

It's by far the biggest jungle in the world,

and I think the most spectacular.

Twice the size of Europe

and home to more species of animal than anywhere else on the planet,

the Amazon is wildlife central.

I'm already up, raring to go,

but the crew are going to need a little bit more encouragement.

Come on, you lot, we've got a monster spider to find!

Tarantulas do most of their hunting in the security

of specially dug burrows.

The bigger the entrance, the bigger the spider.

I've never seen a burrow this big before.

HE GASPS

Oh, my life!

It's something really big.

Here it comes.

Absolutely dripping sweat here.

Look at the size of those fangs!

I've never seen anything this big before

and I've been catching tarantulas for well over a decade.

'This is the largest tarantula in the world -

'the Goliath bird-eating spider.

'They're remarkably canny and cautious.

'Getting her out into the open takes infinite patience and care.

'Every member of the crew holds their breath.

'Once she's out, the machete provides a safe block

'to keep her from disappearing into her burrow.'

Well done, mate.

'The burrow can be many metres deep.

'If she ran now, we'd have to wait hours for another chance.'

I'm going to be very gentle with her,

because this is a very old and very special spider.

This is definitely a female

and the females of this particular spider

can get to be 25, even 30 years old.

So...she's ancient.

Come on, old girl. There you are.

Now we can get a proper sense of the size of you.

'This spider's venom wouldn't kill me,

'but you really don't want to get bitten by those gigantic fangs.

'She does, however, have another form of defence

'that I've got to be really careful of.'

That kicking her leg against her abdomen,

sending hairs up into the air...

if those get into your eyes or nose, the back of your throat,

it can be very irritating and itchy

and it's actually the spider's primary method

of getting rid of an attacker,

despite the fact that it has gigantic fangs.

She's got fangs that are about as long as a cheetah's claws

and a good deal sharper.

She could give me a really, really nasty bite,

so I just want to be ever so careful.

This is the Goliath bird-eating spider.

Goliath was a giant in the Bible

and this is a giant among spiders.

Now, although they certainly are capable of it,

birds don't actually form a large part of their diet.

Most of what they'll eat are rats and mice,

lizards and crickets, invertebrates.

But really they will take almost anything

that's unlucky enough to wander past their burrow.

Look at the size of her!

And I can feel those hairs that she kicked up into the air

in the back of my throat and I want to cough,

but it's not really a good time to cough

with THAT on your hands.

'As she relaxes, she decides to go for a wander,

'and though it's still a little nervy,

'I think I've earned this spider's trust.'

They really are very, very impressive.

Look at that, as she comes over the top of my finger.

It's something that never ceases to amaze me.

This is an invertebrate - this animal doesn't have a backbone.

Its brain is absolutely tiny,

but every single one of these spiders has their own personality.

Some of them are incredibly easy to handle.

Others will bite almost instantly.

Some of them will wander over your hand quite happily.

Others of them, you really think that, you know, it's quite edgy,

and any second, they could sink their fangs into you.

This one here is kind of in the middle.

She's been kicking hairs quite frantically

and I don't know...

I think I'm probably quite close to getting a bite,

which is why I'm sweating so much.

The Goliath bird-eating spider, one of the true giants of the Amazon

and an absolute cert for the Deadly 60.

The biggest spider in the world.

A monster that doesn't only eat crickets and cockroaches

but mice, frogs, lizards,

and, yes, even birds.

The Goliath bird-eating spider. Deadly!

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