(WHDH) — A team of biologists from the University of Michigan has gained attention after recently publishing a study that includes the first-ever images of a tarantula preying on an opossum.
The video, which shows a Pamphobeteus eating a small opossum, was captured during a trip to the Amazon rainforest in Peru in November 2016, according to biologist Maggie Grundler.
Maggie’s colleague and brother, Michael Grundler, estimated the tarantula to be “about the size of a dinner plate.” He also said that “finding a spider eating another mammal is unexpected.”
The video was released as part of an article published in Amphibian & Reptile Conservation, which is entitled: “Ecological interactions between arthropods and small vertebrates in a lowland Amazon rainforest.”
Biologists documented a total of 15 “rare and disturbing predator-prey interactions,” and referred to the study as the “stuff of nightmares,” according to the University of Michigan.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vp6IoDdqckc&w=560&h=315]
Video credit: Credit: Maggie R. Grundler via Storyful
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