giant creepy things want to eat you

February 4, 2007 12:28 AM

giant creepy things want to eat you
posted by MetaMonkey (37 comments total)

Lots of people are going to give you shit about a post full of YouTube links.

Those people are idiots. This is awesome.
posted by borkingchikapa at 12:49 AM on February 4, 2007

Why would one post this at 3am? Nightmarefilter.
posted by allen.spaulding at 12:56 AM on February 4, 2007

holy fuckin' springbok! they're pretty small as deer go, but - christ! pythons are amazing.
posted by sergeant sandwich at 1:21 AM on February 4, 2007

That slug will kill us all. Or worse, just sit there, eating our flowers, watching... with those things that apparently aren't eyes. *shiver*
posted by DyRE at 1:22 AM on February 4, 2007

Wow, Good work. The worse part is the struggle and succumbtion. Good camera work on the python vid.
posted by bob sarabia at 1:48 AM on February 4, 2007

The new Clark video features some CGI insects, even more creepy than the real things.
posted by scodger at 1:54 AM on February 4, 2007 [2 favorites]

I actually sort of felt for the python. After all it had to go through to swallow that springbok (Geez- those horns-- how??) the snake appears, well, absurdly vunerable. I wonder if there's a predator that lays in wait for overstuffed pythons. Crocodiles, maybe?
posted by maryh at 2:01 AM on February 4, 2007

That praying mantis is really enjoying and savoring his/her meal. Its human-like motions are what amaze me the most.
posted by spiderskull at 2:15 AM on February 4, 2007

"Everybody knows that the snake can somehow unhinge its lower jaw, but that's only part of the solution to eating an animal that is three times the width of your head.
With horns on top."

gah.

I thought the slug was lovely, really. Tortoisey.
And I believe that there may be a moment after finishing the flower when it thinks "Ah, that was good. Oh christ, I'm stuck in a tree again."
posted by NinjaTadpole at 2:38 AM on February 4, 2007

I'm probably in the minority, but I generally prefer links to articles I can read. Others have been kind enough to append a (youtube) to their posts so that I can more easily ignore them.
posted by avriette at 2:44 AM on February 4, 2007

thanks for another hour of not-sleeping.

all of these gave me the heebs, the creeps, the howling fantods.

nightmarefilter, indeed.
posted by sparkletone at 3:04 AM on February 4, 2007

I want to eat giant creepy things.
posted by chudder at 3:26 AM on February 4, 2007

Maryh; So you mean that somewhere out there, there is a Springbok inside a python, inside a crocodile, inside a...?
posted by Catfry at 5:47 AM on February 4, 2007

MANTIS NINJA VERSUS DAMSELFLY Warning: Insect carnage!
posted by antinastar at 5:49 AM on February 4, 2007

"Giant creepy things want to eat you."

I heard that a lot while I was dating.
posted by punkfloyd at 6:48 AM on February 4, 2007 [2 favorites]

What creepy-crawly post is complete without giant centipede eating a mouse?
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 7:25 AM on February 4, 2007

I'd like to see that Slug and the python mate. Now that would be an awesome creature!!

Of course, I thought this only after my computer exploded since I tabbed every link and then realized that they were all YouTube videos.
posted by savagecorp at 7:37 AM on February 4, 2007

How about a giant centipede eating a bat?
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 7:45 AM on February 4, 2007

The creepiest of all those links was the giant slug- it's probably much smaller, but the video makes it looks about a foot long or more- like a giant soggy yellow slipper.

Where is that slug from? And why is it in such an arid environment?
posted by D J Robertstein at 7:47 AM on February 4, 2007

Giant creeping cat wants to eat you - with twist ending.

Thanks for posting this, MetaMonkey.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 7:53 AM on February 4, 2007

That slug is great. It looks like it's chewing.
posted by Totally Zanzibarin' Ya at 7:54 AM on February 4, 2007

Sweet holy merciful crap. Those were terrifying.
posted by MsMolly at 8:28 AM on February 4, 2007

maryh:

Mmmmmmmmm... Springpythadile. Good eating on one of those... Turduckens are for wimps...
posted by Samizdata at 8:41 AM on February 4, 2007

This is an awesome (if somewhat nightmarish) post.

(borkingchikapa: this doesn't at all fit into the "single video link w/no explanation" category that I rail against... I don't think anyone seriously complains about YouTube posts generically, examples pls?)
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 9:01 AM on February 4, 2007

for me the standout video was the giant wasp battle. At first I thought it was pretty ho-hum in comparison to the spidermonster et. al. but a few seconds in it gets RIGHTEOUS GNARLEY
posted by tylermoody at 9:04 AM on February 4, 2007

The python video is incredible. Good work getting it to actually attack and swallow a camera. But I wonder how they were able to retrieve the camera? Surely they didn't wait for it to poop it out. Can a python make a poop that big?
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 9:17 AM on February 4, 2007

I wish to echo the majority of the YouTube posts when I say: OMG LOLZ PWNED!
posted by jimmythefish at 9:44 AM on February 4, 2007

ooh MetaMonkey, wonderful Sunday post. Enjoyed all that day-to-day horror in a stomach wrenching, squicky kind of way. The critters really seemed to relish their meals, each in their own style. The giant centipede (almost too revolting for me to watch those nimble pegs doing their balletic dominoes thing across the forest floor) passionately sunk its fangs into that tarantula. Ugh, that shiny shield of a head against the black furriness. That was particularly disturbing.

The snake was was amazing. It was excellent to see the head deconstructed scientifically like that, showing how it works swallowing something that enormous. Wonder if the python has a gag reflex?

The mantis cannibalising one of its own like pieces from a bucket of Kentucky Fried. Mandible smackin' good. With the life force still making the remnants of the almost eaten mantis-meal still wriggle in end-of-life desperation.

The giant slug reminded me of Heimlich the caterpillar in A Bug's Life.

Previously on MetaFilter, two of my Sunday faves, Madamjujujive's eeeeek! and her EEEK!

And the awful Frankenfish.

An early Crocodile Dundee version of attempting to cope with certain creepy crawlies.
posted by nickyskye at 9:49 AM on February 4, 2007

Amblypigids and Solifugaes are good resason to go back to sleep in the morning.
posted by OrangeDrink at 10:16 AM on February 4, 2007

What's That Bug
posted by misskaz at 10:57 AM on February 4, 2007

misskaz, Loved the What's That bug? site! Way cool. Great photographs.

D J Robertstein, your question prompted me to look up more information about the giant slug. It's from the Namaqualand region in South Africa, which is "most famous for the metamorphosis that follows its winter. Between August and October the life-giving rains transforms the ordinarily arid landscape into a thick and lush wildflower carpet of every colour." I like the Namaqua chameleon.

There are some pretty ugly slugs out there. This one looks like a cow plop. I can't believe there is actually a sea slug forum. The Sydney Opera House slug. What an amazing world it is.

Giant dinosaur snail.
posted by nickyskye at 11:10 AM on February 4, 2007

ugh. Those aren't pokemon.
posted by stavrogin at 11:40 AM on February 4, 2007

I want the slug as a pet and the snake for certain loud music playing neighbor.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:52 AM on February 4, 2007

bleh! That snail looks like a bunny from venus, with the pink flowers behind it looking like pointy ears.
posted by nj_subgenius at 2:06 PM on February 4, 2007

I'm probably in the minority, but I generally prefer links to articles I can read. Others have been kind enough to append a (youtube) to their posts so that I can more easily ignore them.

Your loss. Words simply cannot describe how cool it is to watch that python eat that freakin thing.
posted by baphomet at 3:11 PM on February 4, 2007

Watch this mantis dance!
posted by Citizen Premier at 5:03 PM on February 4, 2007

"Is it possible that the victim might actually recover consciousness during this swallowing process? Who can tell?"
Gah! I should have stopped before watching that python!
posted by vytae at 10:37 AM on February 5, 2007