I'm sure at least a few of you have seen this before, but for the benefit of those that don't beleive Pratcho's observations of 4Ecks. Douglas Adams View On Australia. It's funny because so much of it is true.
I think he got it backwards on the spiders and snakes... According to here Australia gets 4 of the top 10 snakes and the top 2 most deadliest snakes in the world... the first one the poison is enough to kill 100 people with one bite. WHy this is necessary has yet to be determined And I can't find anything on spiders that would be considered reliable and credible... Australia isn't that bad for poisonous animals honestly. WOuld I lie? Its fine, but avoid the platypus, box jellyfish (proported to be the most painful way to day, ie people get stung in the water and people are in that much pain they drown), sharks, crocodiles, the snakes (virtually all poisonous, not many friendly ones here), some of the spiders, the kangaroos (can kick your stomach through your backbone but this occurs rarely) and bloody flies... DOn't believe what he says about the wombat... Honestly who sticks their hand down a strange hole? And there's enough wombat roadkill around to tell you that the wombats don't just walk away from the car. Well at least we don't have too many of the big things that eat you. Like lions and tigers and bears etc, we're much more subtle
Having lived in Oz for a while and after reading this I'd have to agree with practically everything that Douglas Adams says!
C'mon now give us a fair go, its not that bad. Most of the deaths from poisonous animals are from idiots poking a stick at them. Can you blame the little critters for that, for biting back. Sidenote the most painful way to die is a paracetamol (easily found in Australia ) overdose; 12 grams can shut down your liver. That is a bad thing don't try it.
Believe it, a wombats 'rear-end' is tougher than a tortise shell. A wombats method of defence is to run into its burrow and wait for its attacker to try and get it out, when the wombat feels the predator trying to pull it out, it pushes with its extremely powerful hind legs and pins the predator to the roof of the burrow. There have been confirmed reports of wombats crushing a dogs skull in this manner, and they are able to stay in that position for an amazingly long period of time. D.A. did make a small mistake about the snakes, we have the 9 most venomous. He also forgot to mention that some of the trees like to explode for no apparent reason.
Being on fire may explain most of the explosions though Edit: This may be due to advice given out by english authors of the requirement to carry a stick at all times... The stick is for checking shoes by lifting with stick and twirling them around on the end. there is no need to pock a stick at everything you come across... p.s. Wombats don't bother anyone unless bothered themselves, see comments on sticks.
Trees do that up here, too, though mostly in winter. And just as a side note, our dealiest animal is the moose.
Lions are not the most dangerous animals. In South Africa the hippo is considered more deadly. (More casulties per year)
I'd love to go to Australia, but it's so damn far away! I hate being shut up inside planes; the furthest I've been is Japan and China, which took 14 hours and is my absolute limit without having some kind of hypnotherapy or something. It takes at least 24 hours to get there from here by plane, plus the extra five hours getting to the airports. As soon as they invent these new scram jet thingies that get you there in a couple of hours I'll be straight over - poisonous creatures hold no fear for me!
Right, wasn't sure about the rest of the world, I just remembered the things I heard in the Krugerpark. When I was there some refugees from Mozambique got eaten by Lions when they chose the Krugerpark as the best place to cross the border. You think US Immigration is tough...? :shock:
But it's not the insect that kills is it? If you're going to be that pedantic you may as well say that sporozoan parasites are the world's deadliest animals, seeing as they are the creatures that actually cause the malaria, not the mosquitos that carry and transmit them.
So, what we're saying here is that the mosquito should only be charged with manslaughter? I don't know if I'd survive in Australia. Put it this way: I'm scared of the English house spider, I'm bloody terrified of the English garden spider, and I think I'd need counselling if I came into physical contact with the English harvest spider (none which are poisonous, or over 3 inches long)! And check out Douglas Adams' final line - venomous sheep???
Here's somthing especially for Hermia. Click with caution It says up to 15 cm, but I've seen them much bigger. Some explode when on fire, but I have seen eucalyptus trees explode just because it was a hot day. I know, but Read Here
Something about that wombat site makes me think it was written by someone half the world away from Australia.
I thought a daddy longlegs was a cranefly; never even heard of a harvest spider before, but I've seen lots of daddy longlegs.
It says here that the term 'daddy long legs' is used to mean both the crane fly and the spider-like creature that I was referring to. I have only heard it used to mean the spider-like creature, which looks like this . They are definitely not flies as they have 8 legs. They are very common in New York State.
The wombat rump defense is real. Very odd animals in Australia. Daddy Longlegs can also refer to spiders of the Pholcidae family, which unlike the harvestmen are true spiders.
I'm not disputing that, the wombat website just seems odd. I guess its just cause its looking at my home from the outside. I saw a possum at uni the other day, I fed it some fruit (it was eating out of a trash can at the time so it was a bit of a improvment of its diet).
Well, when Death asked his library for a list of the non-dangerous animals of Fourecks, he did get a single leaf of paper saying "Some of the sheep"
Here in Sussex (and Kent), when we say harvest spider, we're often talking about something completely different from a daddy-long-legs, which is that spider that looks like a cranefly. From a little research, I think it's a local misnomer for a house spider.
My friends and I were going to go to Australia for spring break but it cost almost a thousand dollars more than Hawaii so Hawaii it is.
No bugs either. I'd go anywhere for spring break, except maybe Antarctica, but I'm not the one planning it so it's not up to me.
I'd love to go to all the poisnous animals and dangerous sheep. I'm still not sure why I haven't considering I don't live all that far away and just a silly fact...im not sure of the source or if this is correct because it's been floating around my head for so long i could be thinking of dandylions or something but... Did you know the daddy-long-legs is actually one of the most poisious spiders alive. The only reason it is not dangerous is because there is absolutely no way for them to release their poison. Poor daddys. So much potential wasted
I have also heard that the daddy long legs is poisonous but can't puncture the skin because its fangs are to short. Never researched it to see if it was true though. What he lacks in teeth he makes up for in legs.
The story about the venom/fangs of the daddy long legs is pure urban legend, I saw the Myth Busters do a segment on them. http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/mythbusters/mythbusters.html Adam made one bite him, he described it as a very brief burning sensation, and suffered no serious effects. I do know that daddy long legs eat black widows, or red backs as we call them here.
The spider I call a harvest spider (possibly incorrectly) is one of those brownish ones about 2-4 inches long, found mostly in rural areas (thank goodness). I've always believed that a daddy-long-legs is a cranefly, but I guess a nickname like that works just as well for a leggy spider (which I'm not nearly so scared of - it's all the hairiness I can't deal with). And Ecksian, I'm too much of a chicken to click your link!
