Size: This is the largest species of spider in the world measuring up to 30cm in diameter and weighing up to 120g.

Habitat and Distribution: Found in wet swamps and marshy areas within the rainforests of northern South American countries such as Suriname, Brazil, Guyana and Venezuela.

Age: 11 years for males and 25 for females.

Groups and Breeding: These are solitary animals and spend most of their life in silk lined burrows coming out only to feed. When it is time to mate (at around 10 years), the male will come to the entrance of the female’s burrow and entices her out. He then uses special hooks on his front legs to hold her fangs whilst he mates with her. Immediately afterwards, he will hastily retreat or risk being eaten by the female! The female will then lay 50-100 eggs in a silk sac which she will store in her burrow. She will guard this ferociously for six to seven weeks and will even take it with her when she goes out to hunt. Once hatched, the young will remain in the burrow until their first moult when they will disperse into the wild.

Diet: Frogs, toads, lizards, mice and snakes. One Goliath Spider has been filmed eating fer-de-lance snakes, one of the most poisonous snakes in the world.

• These spiders can actually make noises by rubbing the hairs on their legs together to make a hissing noise. This warns potential predators away.
• Natives of the areas where these spiders live worship them and also eat them (roasted on a stick apparently!).
• They have eight eyes but have incredibly poor eyesight and can only really perceive light and dark. They rely instead on feeling vibrations in the air and through the ground using the sensory hairs covering their body.
• Half of all mating males are killed or seriously injured by the female immediately afterwards.
• Disturbed bird eating spiders will kick hairs up into the air. These are extremely irritating and cause a painful rash. Only when further provoked will a spider bite. The venom is not lethal to humans but is extremely painful and causes vomiting and sweating.
• If the Goliath loses a leg, it can gradually grow it back again with each moult.