Week 2 – Audio Lesson: Listen & Read

Refer to lesson PDF for transcript with highlighted vocabulary (download here).

Pete: Another story that I saw come up in the news was that “Australian Reptile Park warns of funnel web spider bonanza due to the wet weather.” So, because of the rain coming through…

Ian: Wet and warm.

Pete: Yeah, it’s going to be wet and warm. And so, the spiders can get out and about…

Ian: And they’ll probably reproduce more because they’ll be more food available. Better conditions for the young.

Pete: And so, you got to be careful if you guys are anywhere… I think they were talking about the distribution of the spiders… Where was it here? From Newcastle to Nowra, and as far west as Lithgow. And so, if you’re in that area…

Ian: It’s about an area of a hundred kilometres of circle or radius around Sydney.

Pete: That’s crazy. It’s such a small environment. It’s perfect for them. But if you’re around there, don’t leave your shoes outside. And keep an eye out for them, but… 

Ian: And if you’re gardening, use very thick gloves and don’t garden with your hands. Garden with implements.

Pete: Use a shovel! But interestingly, I’m surprised too, the story suggested that people try and capture them in order to give to the reptile park to be milked for anti-venom. But it’s interesting because most of the time… 

Ian: They’ll say just leave them alone.

Pete: …especially with venomous animals, they’ll say leave them alone. But they said, “if you have the opportunity to catch one…”

Ian: That’s… Well, you’ve got to assume… The Australian Reptile Park is one of the biggest organisations for venomous animals in Australia. So, they should know what they’re talking about. But yeah, I would question that one myself, but trust the experts.

Pete: Yeah. 

Ian: ‘Cause generally the advice is if there’s a dangerous animal, leave it alone. You don’t go and catch it.

Pete: Well, call someone to deal with it.

Ian: Yeah. And that may be the thing is that I don’t know whether they will do it, but there may well be other services that you could call and say, “Hey, we got a couple of funnel webs in the backyard. You want to come and get them?”, rather than going and trying to go and catch them, yourself.

Pete: Yeah. I would suggest…

Ian: ‘Cause these are large aggressive spiders. This is not the little passive thing that you can put a glass and a piece of paper, you know, like a huntsman.

Pete: Well, that’s a funny thing. Huntsmans always have a bad rap. Those guys I feel like are the Labradors of the spider world… 

Ian: Yeah. They are. 

Pete: because they… I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone being bitten by a huntsman.

Ian: No, the problem that we have with Huntsmen is that, wolf-spiders look very similar to them.

Pete: Yeah. 

Ian: If you know what you’re looking for, they don’t.

Pete: Yep.

Ian: But, superficially, they look similar. And so, I think people would look at it and go, “Oh! Another Huntsman.” And just, you know, some people would just pick him up in their hands.

Pete: Yep.

Ian: And they’re perfectly fine to do that with a huntsman.

Pete: Don’t do that with a wolf spider.

Ian: Don’t do it with a wolf spider. They’re not going to kill you but they’ll hurt and you’ll get sick.

Pete: And you’re going to have a bad time.

Ian: Exactly. 

Pete: But the good thing about them is that the Wolf spiders have, I think, vertical lines down there, thorax or their head. So, they’re pretty different, once you get used to it.

Ian: They are different. And they don’t have the spread that… The flap spread of legs that the huntsmen have.

Pete: Well, they’re not tree climbers. They live in the ground in burrows, right?

Ian: They do. Yep.

Pete: Whereas the huntsman a tree climber and so they have this wide spread because they are used to living up on trees under bark, keeping flat to the ground.

Ian: That’s right. Yep.

Pete: But yeah, huntsmans are great, guys. You know, if you find them in your house, you can always try… I wouldn’t have any issue suggesting try and get them out by using, you know, a glass and a sheet of paper. Right?

Ian: Yeah. Or just leave them there.

Pete: Just leave them in your house.

Ian: Yeah, they’re going to eat mosquitos, flies, moths.

Pete: Well the good thing is that, and I’m always saying this to Kel, the huntsmans go to the highest part of the house. 

Ian: Yep.

Pete: So, they would try and get high up on the wall.

Ian: Yep. High up on the walls.

Pete: They don’t crawl around on the ground.

Ian: No. 

Pete: They are up in the corners sitting there, waiting for insects and other animals to eat.

Ian: Yeah. 

Pete: And so, they kill the mozzies and other things. We always used to do that, and they weren’t an issue. But Kel, having grown up in the Brazilian rainforest and seeing wandering spiders…

Ian: Yes. 

Pete: …the world’s most venomous spiders, she’s not a fan of any kind of spider.

Ian: Yeah.