Now this is some messed up news that’s been talked about countless amounts of times, through various mediums over the course of a solid month. Piotr Naskrecki, an Entomologist for the Smithsonian Museum of American History traveled to South America in the name of research of an extremely rare species of spiders dubbed Goliath Spiders. This species of spiders have been described to be puppy-sized…and for darn good reason too. Upon reaching adulthood, these spiders, could cover more than the spherical cap of a regulation-sized basketball.
If that doesn’t rustle your jimmies, then this next tidbit of information will.
If you’re wondering what in the world these seemingly gamma-powered mutations eat besides what the above picture clearly illustrates; then you’re about to get some knowledge bestowed upon thy mind. These creatures possess mandibles that can easily penetrate the skull of a rat. They eat insects; frogs, small snakes, rodents, and even bats if you can imagine. A lot of people who reveled in the taste of frog’s legs say it “tastes just like chicken“, but these Goliath Spiders won’t take your word for it. Oh no, they most definitely won’t. In fact, as you can see, they will not only hunt, and slowly kill a chicken; they will pose with their trophy for a picture, a la Captain Morgan-style. Speaking of good ‘ol Cap…I’m going to need a stiff drink after publishing this post, and watch my backside as I make my way over to the kitchen.
Yep. That’s pretty much what they’ll do when they catch you in their neighborhood
Lets jump right back into it
Naskrecki felt it necessary to not only capture and strategically kill one “specimen” in the name of science; he goes as far as to claim he did it for it to be displayed within the enclave of the Museum for which he is employed. He stated that he was taking a walk when he came across the spider. Then goes on to say that every time he got close to it, it would display its predatory behavior, for which he called “cute”. The spider obviously didn’t take kindly to the scientist in its neck of the woods (unintentional pun). The spider ejected a form of a haze at Naskrecki, which caused great discomfort to his eyes for several days. So, he did what scientists do when in the company of something new and fascinating…they kill it for dissection and study.
Now we’ve reached the portion of the post where my opinion is dying to come out
I wish that I inhabited a completely different planet solar system as spiders and the vast majority of insects in the world. There’s no doubt about that in the least. But that does not mean I want to see the destruction of life that has every right to exist as I do, especially when they’re posing absolutely no threat to humanity. This is where I start to hate everything that science stands for. What is wrong with mankind that they feel the need to go to different countries of the world and destroy disturb the indigenous lifeforms in the name of science!? Creatures that strive for survival every single day, and instinctively respect the natural order aren’t scientific specimens that deserve to be dissected and classified based on its biomolecular makeup. If there was a newly deceased creature laying on the ground, that’s a completely different story altogether.
Well, I see that I’m not the only person who feels the way I do about this topic, as the Entomologist received not only hate mail in accordance to his actions; the bastard received a multifarious amount of death threats seemingly from every corner of civilization with an internet connection. In my opinion, threatening his life is going a little too far, but I see this as the start of a revolution against scientist’s need of killing and studying animal species when there is so many more perplexities in the world we are still just beginning to understand thanks to the current state of technology.
What gives humans any right to kill anything if not for the sole purpose of survival? How would scientists feel if an intellectually superior alien species came to Earth and kidnapped their family and friends, killed, dissected, and studied in the name of intergalactic science because out of all the planets hosting life, humans were the first of our kind that they’ve seen? Wouldn’t feel right; would it?
I believe mankind needs to take a different approach towards the endeavors of science. I believe that we need to concentrate on the issues that are most important to solve before we move on to further frontiers. We are plagued by the common cold and a plethora of diseases. We have children born with birth defects and learning disabilities. We have cell phones that can record high definition videos, yet we have security cameras that are supposed to thwart crime and save lives that possess a video quality comparable to mid 80’s amatauer home videos. The list goes on and on, but only one thing is consistent…things aren’t as they should be.
An Artistic Ascension of an Aspiring Author 