- A giant spider species from Africa has been found at a primary school in London
- The staff screamed as the huntsman spider jumped out of the banana box
A giant spider species from Africa has been found at a London primary school after catching a ride to Britain on children’s bananas.
Dani Zenith, a teaching assistant at the school in Croydon, said staff screamed when the huntsman spider jumped out of the banana box.
She said: ‘We are just a normal primary school and we receive free products for the children from the municipality.
‘We were unpacking the bananas to hand out to the classrooms and the spider jumped out.
“It was a hunter and he literally jumped out of the box – he probably jumped three feet.
A giant spider species from Africa has been found at a London primary school after hitchhiking to Britain on children’s bananas
Dani Zenith, a teaching assistant at the school in Croydon, said staff screamed when the huntsman spider jumped out of the banana box
‘The office staff and ladies in their mid-20s were shouting, and a few older staff in their 40s were wondering what was going on.
“We happily captured that spider as they screamed and panicked. We weren’t afraid, we were a bit excited.’
The creature was a Heteropoda venatoria, a member of the huntsman or Sparassidae family of spiders, which are famous for their size.
And if we could believe the box, he had traveled some 5,000 kilometers to the school from his home in Ivory Coast.
Ms Zenith, who uses an alias due to the nature of her work, said: ‘We knew straight away it wasn’t the usual house spider you find indoors.
‘Myself and another member of staff who really likes spiders – she has her own spider book – wanted to know what spider it was and if it was native to Britain.
“But every time we put him into a Google search, which I know you can’t always rely on, he kept coming back as a hunter.”
Looking for answers, Dani went to the Natural History Museum’s page on Facebook.
It soon turned out that Google was right.
The creature was a Heteropoda venatoria, a member of the huntsman or Sparassidae family of spiders, which are famous for their size
If we could count on the box, he had traveled about 4,000 kilometers to the school from his home in Ivory Coast.
Heteropoda venatoria, also called the pantropical huntsman spider, can have a wingspan of up to five centimeters when fully grown.
But this specimen was a juvenile male, estimated by Dani to be six centimeters in diameter.
And while the venomous species can cause a painful bite, they are not considered dangerous to humans and survive on a diet of insects.
For the schoolchildren it was a visitor like no other.
Dani, 45, said: ‘This was a positive, fascinating and educational find for me, and the children and I enjoyed learning more about this stowaway.
“It wasn’t scary or negative or anything to worry about in any way.”
She added, “We just opened a box of bananas and out came this magical creature.”
The spider has now found a new home.