Caught on Camera: Fight Between A Snake And A Spider

Does a spider even have a chance in a fight against a huge snake?

Well apparently, the answer to that question is a “yes” as proven by Patrick Lees, a farmer from Weethalle, New South Wales who witnessed a match between a cellar spider (also called daddy longlegs) and a brown snake (with scientific name pseudonaja textilis).

Patrick noticed the serpent caught in the spider’s web one day. Of course, he immediately grabbed his camera, snapped a photo, and eventually uploaded it on “The Aussie Farmer,” his Facebook page.

When he took a closer look, Lees discovered that the snake was already dead. He decided not to remove it from the web.

Snake vs spider – and the arachnid actually won!

In his interview with The Daily Adveriser, Lees explained:

“I can’t take down (the spider’s) trophy; he’s earned it.”

He also added:

“It’s typical Australia. I saw it from a distance and thought ‘someone is going to be a hero here.’ There’s a few redbacks around, but I wasn’t expecting it to be a daddy longlegs.”

Further research revealed that while cellar spiders do not look lethal, the truth is they actually are.

According to Lorenzo Prendini, curator of Arachnida and Myriapoda at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, cellar spiders are really venomous.

But how did the snake end up being trapped in the web in the first place?

Speaking with Live Science, spider expert James Starrett said:

“I guess it is possible that the spider was able to injure the snake with a bite, but it could also be that the snake just got tangled in the web and wore itself out trying to get free.”

Whatever the reason may be, this just goes to prove that, yes, a David can indeed beat a Goliath.