It’s been said that a person swallows about
eight spiders in their sleep every year. This person should be located and stopped
right now! While that story may or may not be true, it’s
enough to make me want to swear off sleeping for the rest of my life. Or wear a space helmet to bed. But, it makes a kind of sense. Spiders like warm dark places and the inside
of your mouth sure fits that description. Gross as it sounds, if the story’s true,
it seems to be mostly harmless. But what if it wasn’t? What if you swallowed a spider that wasn’t
just venomous, but the most toxic spider in the world? Oh, and please, please, don’t try this at
home. Or at work, or the skating rink, or the mall
or anywhere else for that matter. Do not eat live venomous spiders! Was I clear enough? Okay. This hairy little monster is known as the
Sydney funnel-web spider, or “Atrax robustus” if you want to show off. It, like way, way, way too many of planet
Earth's other most dangerous wildlife, hales from the continent of Australia. G’day mate! Incidentally, when exactly did we decide to
make Australia a tourist destination? Even their cutest animal, the Koala, can have
an aggressive side. And kangaroos? Those overgrown rodents may look graceful
and majestic, but their legs aren't just for hopping. It wouldn’t be a vacation for the faint
of heart, to say the least. At least with kangaroos, you have to drive
deep into the outback and go out of your way to make them angry. The Atrax, meanwhile, is more than willing
to do house calls. Their natural habitat may be the underside
of rocks and fallen trees, but the Sydney funnel-web is just as at home in yours! Assuming your home is within a hundred miles
of Sydney, Australia. If not, I have some great news! If so, well, I guess you could always move. The good news is that at up to two inches
in length and notoriously skittish, you're unlikely to swallow one of these by accident. I also have a hard time believing someone
would eat one voluntarily. So, what would happen if you chowed down on
the most dangerous spider in the world? Well, that's going to depend if it's still
up and about when it goes down your gullet. The Sydney funnel-web can hold its breath
for over a day, in some cases surviving underwater for up to thirty hours. With that in mind, I wouldn't place any bets
on it running out of air on the way down. In this case, your biggest concern would be
the possibility for the spider to bite you on the way down. Atrax really don’t like to be handled, and
their fangs are large and powerful enough to punch a hole in your fingernail. Making matters worse, (like they could be
worse) the Atrax isn’t a bite and run kind of spider. It will dig in its’s fangs and hold on for
the ride. The Atrax’s venom is a special kind of nasty,
attacking its prey's nervous system. Symptoms will begin within minutes as the
neurotoxin starts shorting out your nerves. After being bitten, your heart will start
beating rapidly as your blood pressure spikes through the roof. This is followed by breathing trouble, muscle
spasms, and numbness around the mouth. Finally, the venom begins to attack the brain,
causing disorientation and eventually loss of consciousness. In as little as fifteen minutes after the
initial bite… Well, you know. If you were looking to kick a bucket , now’s
the time. Now, if the bite is on your foot or hand,
you can buy yourself a bit of time by tying a tourniquet around the injured limb. Once that's done, you must seek medical help
immediately. You're in for anywhere from two to twelve
injections depending on the severity of your symptoms. The good news is that it’ll probably feel
like being poked with a wet noodle compared to the bite itself. Wait, is that good news? Eh, moving on. Unfortunately, a tourniquet isn't going to
do you any favors if the bite is inside your throat. I suppose it isn't that strange to want to
risk it all on dangerous foods. After all, people will fly across the ocean
and spend thousands of dollars for a single bite of Fugu fish, the meal so hazardous that
the Emperor of Japan is banned from eating it. What about you, viewers? Care to ride the fugu tsunami? They say it's carefully regulated, but I'm
not sure I want to take that chance. Why don’t you tell me in the comments whether
I need to grow a backbone or if this whole thing seems a little fishy to you. Anyway, let’s say you managed to wrangle
a Sydney funnel-web into your mouth without getting bitten. What happens then? Surprisingly, not as much as you might think. A spider is just a tiny cow with twice the
legs and way too many eyes. And fangs, I guess. And a segmented thorax and abdomen. Okay, they’re not very much like a cow,
but you can milk them! My point is that meat is meat as far as your
stomach is concerned, and spiders can be digested just as easily as anything else. But what about the poison? It's still in your body, isn't it? Well, first off, there’s a difference between
poison and venom. The average person may use the terms interchangeably,
but that’s the kind of mislabeling that will make a biologist pull their hair out. You should try saying it in front of one. It’s very funny. For the record, something is poisonous if
you get sick from eating it, and venomous if you get sick from being bitten. There may be a lot of venomous spiders, but
no one’s ever found one that’s poisonous. Venom is dangerous if it gets in your blood,
but harmless if swallowed; although I have no idea why or how anyone would end up doing
so. Maybe they found an unlabeled bottle in a
lab somewhere? Then again, they don’t usually let small
children into labs, and I can’t think of anyone else who’d willingly ingest a vial
of mysterious science juice. Even if our hypothetical spider muncher happens
to have a stomach ulcer, they’re probably in the clear. Your stomach is basically just a big bag full
of hydrochloric acid and the mucus that keeps it from digesting itself. The former will quickly dissolve all the proteins
in the spider’s venom, rendering it inert upon contact. Hooray! That means any "epic dare" videos I really
hope we didn't just inspire, have a chance of going smoothly. Again, please don’t do this at home. Or anywhere else. Although, there are a few members of your
household that could get away with this kind of reckless behavior. I’m talking about your dog, the animal voted
most likely to eat things that aren’t food. As it turns out, most mammals are entirely
immune to the Atrax’s venom. Only invertebrates and primates are vulnerable,
anything else gets off with the equivalent of a bee sting. Cats, dogs, and frogs? No problem. You, me, and a monkey named Pete? A trip to the hospital or worse. Funnily enough, if a beetle gets bitten, it
has the opposite effect. Instead of having muscle spasms, insects and
arachnids will be completely paralyzed. Some might take this to mean the spiders don't
want to hurt humans. But I can’t help but feel like all the creepy
crawlies of Australia want humans off its shores yesterday, and are bending over backward
to make that happen. Does that make me paranoid? Yes. Yes it does. But that’s a whole different video. Hey, if you learned something new today, please
don’t go out and try it, instead give the video a like and share it with a friend! And here are some other cool videos I think
you'll enjoy. Just click to the left or right, and stay
on the Bright Side of life!
