An unfortunate member of this order lost its life to a fatal spell in a lesson on the dark arts. Unlike the tortured screen arachnid, this specimen is wisely publicity-shy and sought the shelter of cracks in a log on which my duck discovered it. With flattened bodies and a pair of elongated legs that serve as feelers, these creatures are commonly known as whip spiders or amblypygids. Having no venom, they use their robust pair of spiny pedipalps to spear prey such as crickets and other bark-dwelling hexapods. But their fine facial features alone was probably enough to spark a wave of panic and demands that trails for civilised beings be kept free of such horrors that might recall the days when people shared their caves and lived in real danger from mere beasts and not the acts of beastly men.
Comments