The Queen of the Bush

I suffer from a mild version of arachnophobia. Mild because only certain spiders in certain places cause a strong emotional reaction from my side, potentially involving baffling speaking, screams of terror, goose bumps, shivers down the spine and uncontrolled arm-waving, expressing the anxious position I find myself in. Depends on the spider’s size and figure and the available help.

So, when I saw the Red-legged golden orb web spider, I was absolutely sure I was in the middle of a bad nightmare. Unfortunately, I wasn’t. It was all too real when the rope used for the field work got stuck around the main supporting branch of the spider’s web and almost broke the branch when we were pulling it back. The web was shaking, the spider got scared and I swear I heard it thinking: “S***, this place is going down, better get out of here before it’s too late!!!!”. I could see it happening – the spider running down the web, over the bushes and into the UNKNOWN. Which could mean anything – the lawn we were standing on, on the tree above us, in my backpack, on my head. Wherever it would feel safest and most comfortable.

My arachnophobia had then reached a completely new level. I was paralysed with the eyes wide open, not blinking or looking anywhere else than at the creature. But that day was apparently my lucky day after all. The branch held strong enough and gave the rope back without breaking. The beast soon got a fresh supply of butterfly prey which probably made it forget about the dreadful experience and convinced it to stay in its golden web and continue with its daily routine of preparing insect wraps for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Oh, I forgot to mention the reason for all this hysteria from my side. This particular she-spider was the most monstrously humongous spider I have ever seen in my life (though I think we might have an alcohol-preserved version of it at my old faculty in Ljubljana). Her body only was about 10cm long (and I’m being objective here!) and if you add the long, thin, very spider-like legs, it reached almost 20cm. She was shining and – decorated – with different colourful patterns. Her webs have a golden shine and are strong enough to last for weeks and catch all kind of things, also bats.

I think it therefore deserves to be addressed by a royal title, the highest of them all. To stay respected and feared of, by all things dead and alive. From this moment on, she will be called The Queen of the Bush.

The Queen preparing a wrap and not being aware of the secret lover behind her