1:14:00
Irv agreed that
if the spider was big enough
1:14:02
and it spent a long enough time
working on that body...
1:14:06
I think I know
why you've heard of Canaima.
1:14:10
This was Jerry Manley's home town.
1:14:14
- Manley the photographer?
- Yeah.
1:14:16
I think one of your Venezuelan spiders
hitched a ride here in Manley's coffin.
1:14:26
The fangs, the injectors,
are disproportionately large.
1:14:29
Three poison sacs.
1:14:33
Now, let's test the venom.
1:14:42
The nature of the toxin and the amount
injected determine the effect of the bite.
1:14:46
And, of course, the place
where the subject is bitten.
1:14:50
It can lead to paralysis or death.
1:15:02
I'm no expert, but I'd guess this toxin
is fatal at a fraction of that dose.
1:15:06
I'd agree.
1:15:14
No sex organs.
1:15:17
That would make them drones.
1:15:20
Or soldiers.
1:15:23
That's typically seen in highly organised
insect societies-bees, ants -
1:15:26
but we've never seen it in spiders.
1:15:30
- I have.
- Venezuela, right?
1:15:32
Right. This is the descendant.
1:15:35
Somehow that South American male
has mated with a domestic house spider
1:15:39
and created a very deadly strain.
1:15:41
But if it has no sex organs,
it can't reproduce, right?
1:15:44
True, and the accelerated growth rate,
combined with the specialisation,
1:15:48
suggests a short life cycle.
1:15:50
We've already seen a dead one.
1:15:53
- That could be the good news.
- Now let's discuss the bad.
1:15:57
In their own ecosystem,
1:15:58
the species I discovered in South America
live at the top of the food chain.