Camel Spiders info, pictures and videos

Camel Spiders in Iraq

An Introduction to Camel Spiders

An American Soldier recently stationed in Baghdad was bitten by a Camel Spider which was hiding in his sleeping bag. These spiders have the ability to jump very high and when they latch on to you, you will be injected with a local anesthesia so you can't feel it feeding on you. These spiders don't just suck out your juices like a normal spider, they eat flesh.

Origins of Camel Spiders

Camel spiders, also known as wind spiders, wind scorpions, and sun scorpions, are a type of arthropod found (among other places) in the deserts of the Middle East. They're technically not spiders but solifugae (although, like spiders, they belong to the class Arachnida). Camel spiders are the subject of a variety of legendary claims, many of them familiar to Americans because they were spread by U.S. servicemen who served in the Persian Gulf War in 1991, and re-spread at the beginning of the Iraq War in 2003.

Quick Facts About Camel Spiders

Camel spiders can grow to be as large as dinner plates.
Camel spiders can traverse desert sand at speeds up to 25 MPH, making screaming noises as they run.
Camel spiders can jump several feet in the air.
Camel spiders eat the stomachs of camels, hence the name "camel spider." (Legend includes the detail that camel spiders eat camel stomachs from either the outside in or the inside out. In the former case they supposedly jump up from the ground and grab onto camels' bellies from underneath; in the latter case exactly how spiders allegedly as large as dinner plates get into camels' stomachs intact remains unexplained.)
Camel spiders are venomous, and their venom contains a powerful anesthetic that numbs their victims (thus allowing them to gnaw away at living, immobilized animals without being noticed). U.S. soldiers were said to have been attacked by camel spiders at night but remained completely unaware of their plight until they awakened in the morning to find chunks of their flesh missing.