Wind spiders are aggressive predators that race across deserts and, according to some accounts, scream as they attack. These creatures' lightning speed and huge jaws make them deadly hunters. However, they don't have venom to inject when they bite; despite their name, they aren't real spiders. They are related animals known as solifugids.
Spider Sprint: These creatures got their name from their ability to run like the wind. In flat landscapes, wind spiders can sprint after prey at speeds up to 10 mph.
Cool Down: Wind spiders like the shade so much that they are known to race toward people, only to stop when they reach their shadows. Wind spiders sometimes follow people to stay in the shade.
Open Widest[]
This creature has sensitive, hairy legs.
With jaws up to an inch long, wind spiders have the biggest mouths in relation to body size of any creature in the animal kingdom. Their mandibles (jaws) inflict a powerful bite and at the same time, grind with spiked teeth from side to side. This mashes the victim's flesh into a pulp, which the wind spider gulps down. The wind spider makes loud crunching and slurping sounds while eating.
Beard Cutters: Wind spiders line their dens with hair from mammals they've killed, which led people to believe that these creatures crept up to sleeping men and snipped hair from their beards.
Pest Control: To wind spiders in Africa, a mud-walled termite mound is an all-you-can-eat sign. If the wind spider finds its way inside, it crawls through the network of tunnels and eats everything in its way.
Fast Food[]
- When a gecko walks along the ground near a wind spider, hair on the arachnid's legs detect the lizard's scent in the air and sense the vibrations of its movement. Knowing prey is nearby, the wind spider springs into action.
- The wind spider sprints toward the gecko and wastes no time biting into its flesh. The arachnid's legs control the victim's struggles as the predator begins to tear away at the lizard's body.
Trading Card[]
Trivia[]
- The knowledge card says Wind Spiders. The trading card says Wind Spider.
- The wind spider is featured in Legend Has It... on Monster Mania 53.