- [Coyote] Okay, a bite from this is potentially lethal.
Things are about to get dangerous.
That is one big funnel-web spider right there.
It just bit the pipette.
You can feel the power in that strike.
(dramatic music)
(lion roars)
(dramatic music)
(crunching)
- [Coyote Narrating] Australia is arguably
the most dangerous continent in the world.
I'm sure that as your imagination begins to run wild,
you are likely thinking about being snatched
from a river's edge and eaten alive
by a giant saltwater crocodile.
(splashing)
Or perhaps you are envisioning how terrifying it would be
if you were to stumble upon and be bitten by
one of its incredibly venomous snakes
like the Eastern Brown.
However, it's not only the reptiles
that you need to be wary of.
Tonight, we are exploring just outside of Sydney,
the most densely populated city in Australia,
which also happens to be home
to the world's deadliest spider,
the Sydney funnel-web.
Armed with a set of massive fangs
and an incredibly toxic venom,
just a single bite from this spider
has the ability to kill a human.
(dramatic music)
Sounds terrifying, yet these spiders are rather elusive
and tend to avoid humans at all costs.
In fact, they can be rather difficult to find,
as building their silk lined
funnel shaped burrows under rocks or in rotting logs
keeps them hidden and out of sight.
- Ooh, covered in ants.
Watch out for that.
Let's go on the backside of this tree.
Some logs to flip over here.
- So unless you are like me
and are flipping over debris in the environment,
your odds of encountering one are pretty unlikely.
- [Coyote] You ready?
Going to lift this up.
(dramatic music)
Oh, spider!
Huge spider!
Right there, right there, right there, right there.
- [Mark] Is that a tarantula? - No, no, no, no, no.
I think that's a funnel-web spider.
Right there, it just came out from underneath that log.
Look at its abdomen, right there.
Holy cow!
That's definitely a funnel-web spider.
Hold on, I need to get it into this container.
Oh my gosh, did you see that?
It's a good thing I picked up the log from the other side.
It was just burrowed right underneath there.
- [Mark] That's a tiny container, dude.
That looks too big to be a funnel-web.
- [Coyote] No, no, no, no.
It definitely is. Look at the front of it's body.
- [Mark] Oh yeah. - [Coyote] Wow.
That's spider's so big,
I don't think it's gonna fit in this container.
Mario, you have that bigger jar?
- [Mario] Yeah, I think I might have one in my backpack.
Hang on.
- [Coyote] Let me see if I can peel back
some of these grasses.
- [Mark] It looks like a tarantula but I-
- [Coyote] Ooh, it's moving, hurry up!
Okay, a bite from this is potentially lethal.
I'm just going to set that down and see if I can coax it.
I'm going to try to coax a right into the container.
Now they cannot jump, but they will lunge forward.
(dramatic music)
It's in, it's in, it's in.
There we go.
Wow!
Look at that. - [Mark] Oh yeah.
- [Coyote] That is a 100% a funnel-web spider.
- [Mark] That is a big one.
- [Coyote] Wow.
We cannot miss getting this up close for the cameras.
Okay, let me grab my bag and let's head up to those rocks.
Wow!
That is without question a funnel-web spider.
The question that remains is what species is it?
I want to find a good flat, open rock.
- [Mark] How about that one right there?
- This?
- [Mark] Yeah, that looks pretty.
- Yeah, that's-
- [Mark] Or that one.
Is that better?
- Yeah, that's a little bit better.
Let's see if it'll just sit on top
of the rock surface like this.
- [Mark] Yeah, I like this., this is good.
Wow.
- [Mark] Let's have a look.
- That is intimidating.
It does, it looks like a tarantula.
I know you said, "Is it a tarantula?
Are you sure it's a funnel-web spider?"
100% certain it's a funnel-web spider.
One of the ways that you can identify this species as such
is they have a very bald cephalothorax.
Now they do have hairs on their legs and on the abdomen.
But that is how you can recognize a funnel-web spider.
And that's the perfect sort of place to find them,
underneath logs where they can wait in ambush
for their prey.
Now they will also obviously be inside of burrows
with those little funnel-web systems.
And whew, am I glad that I picked up the log
from the end that I did.
Now, my fingers didn't tuck underneath the log.
I was on the top side.
And that's why you always pick up a log
from an area that you can see,
because if you tuck your fingers underneath,
you grapple onto that spider and you take a bite,
you are on your way to the hospital without question.
Okay, now I know it's probably kind of tough
to see it inside of this container.
So let me see if I can take it out
and place it on the rock here,
and let's get some shots with it.
You ready for that?
- [Mark] Okay, let me help the guys
break out the lights real quick.
It's getting kind of dark.
- Okay, yeah, we're losing light here. (dramatic music)
All right, guys, we have the lights set up now,
and in the lights,
the spider is even more intimidating looking.
You can see the sheen on the legs and the cephalothorax.
It's already cast a little bit of webbing
inside the container there.
And I think if you guys are ready,
let's take it out of the container
and see if it will just hold its ground here on the rock.
Now, this is an extremely aggressive spider species,
and oftentimes they won't run,
But what they will do is rear up
and show you those fangs and those front legs.
Okay.
- [Mark] Now you have to be very cautious.
- Yup, I'm going to just gently tilt this down like this
and let's see if it will crawl out
and just stop right there.
There we go.
(dramatic music)
Okay. Let's see if I can get it to stay still.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, you stay, you stay, you stay.
Actually, maybe I'll do this.
It seems to be more comfortable inside the container.
- [Mark] Yeah, that works for me. How about you, Mario?
- Okay, it's just such a dangerous spider.
I mean, even more so than a wandering spider.
- [Mark] Whoa.
- Okay.
Look at those hooked legs
allowing it to hold onto the edge of the container.
Let me see if I do this.
Maybe if I put the container over top of it
and give it just a second to stay right there.
Now, one reason that the bite is so bad
is that because when they bite, their fingers are so long
they actually will hook into you, hold on,
and continue to pump venom.
And it's not like a black widow
or redback spider where they might give you a warning bite.
A bite from this spider species is full on
as much venom as I can inject.
Okay, let's try this.
Everybody got a decent shot on the spider?
(dramatic music)
There you have it.
Wow.
And just for scale, look at how big that spider is
next to my hand.
Not taking my eyes off of the arachnid.
That is definitely as close
as I feel like I can get.
All right, Mark, let's try this.
I'm going to try to present it
from it's still position right there.
And like all spider species,
you see those very defined eight legs,
but they also have very long pedipalps up front.
And that helps them to grapple onto their prey.
And when they rear up, they show those fangs,
and their fangs are incredibly long.
Longer, in some cases,
than even some of the snake species here in Australia.
(dramatic music)
Now, one of the reasons that this spider
is considered so dangerous
is because they can oftentimes be found
in residential areas.
The Sydney funnel-web specifically is oftentimes found
right in people's backyards.
That's why they tell you if you're out there
working in the garden, make sure you have on gloves.
You can be tilling up dirt,
accidentally grab one of these things,
it bites you on the tip of the finger,
and you may be seeing symptoms in as few as 15 minutes.
Now, the immediate bite, you're definitely going to notice.
The fangs are long enough to draw blood,
but immediately, you will feel throbbing your finger,
and shortly after, you'll start to feel a tingling
in your mouth and lips.
Now, if you are bitten by one of these spiders,
you want to apply compression to the entire arm.
So let's say you're bitten on the tip of your finger.
Put compression straps up the length of your arm.
That will help slow the movement
of the venom into your body.
(dramatic music)
Wow, that is impressive.
Now there are around 40 recognized species
of funnel-web spider,
with one of the most dangerous being the Sydney funnel-web.
And I can't identify exactly if this is a Sydney or not,
but what we do want to do is actually take this spider
back with us into civilization.
Where we want to go is the Australian Reptile Park.
They are ope- it's moving.
The Australian Reptile Park is the one place in Australia
where they actually extract venom from these spiders,
and then in turn, build an antivenom
for people that are bitten.
So this spider that we found right here
might actually be used to save some lives.
How cool is that?
- [Mark] Awesome.
- All right, We are taking this spider
to the Australian Reptile Park.
Wow, what a find.
- Australia is home to a collection
of dangerous arachnids.
From the redback to the huntsman,
and ultimately the funnel-web.
This beautiful continent is crawling with venomous spiders.
Catching a funnel-web spider
is something I had always hoped to do.
And now with one in my possession,
it was time that the crew and I
headed to the Australian Reptile Park.
Famous for being the only sanctuary of its type
in Australia, they're renowned
for their spider and snake venom milking program.
(dramatic music)
Established in 1948, the Australian Reptile Park
and Wildlife Sanctuary is regarded
as one of the country's premiere animal attractions.
Considered a hands-on learning facility,
they are home to a countless number of animal species,
including Tasmanian devils,
and even one incredibly friendly Komodo dragon.
And while their animal attractions have made them
a world-renowned place to visit,
it is actually their commitment to saving human lives
that brings the crew and I knocking
at their laboratory door.
(knocking)
- Come in.
- Hi. - [Kane] Hey, how you doing?
- You must be Kane.
- That's correct.
- Hi, Kane.
I am Coyote.
I'll let you finish
playing with whatever you're playing with there.
What is that?
- Just feeding a little redback spider.
- Oh, a redback.
Okay, cool. We did an episode on redbacks.
But I brought you something a little more intimidating.
I'm pretty sure we have a Sydney funnel-web spider.
- Excellent, my favorite.
Let me have a look. - [Coyote] Yeah, take a look.
I mean, I know there are various different species,
but we caught that one last night.
- [Kane] Local to this area?
- [Coyote] Yes, about 30 minutes from here.
- [Kane] Excellent.
- [Coyote] Ooh, look how big it is.
- [Kane] Yup, it is a very large specimen you've brought me.
I'm very happy with that.
- [Coyote] Okay. - It is a Sydney funnel-web.
That's the good news. - Yes, yes.
- It is definitely a Sydney funnel-web.
- Is it a male?
That's the big question.
- It is not.
- Ah, not a male. - [Kane] No.
- So this is not the venom gold
that you guys are searching for.
- [Kane] No, it is the males.
We use the their venom to make the antivenom.
This is a female.
- [Coyote] Okay, I was really hoping
that we were going to get to milk a spider today.
Now do you guys milk the females for anything?
- Yeah, we do. - Oh you do?
- We definitely do milk the females, yeah.
- Can we milk this spider?
- We can definitely milk this spider.
- Great, so the venom does still have a value of some sort?
- It definitely does.
We send the venom away for different research laboratories
to look into the venom.
- Oh, sweet, okay.
Well, we're still going to get to milk a spider,
and that's exactly what we wanted.
Now, can I actually milk the spider?
- I will definitely let you milk that spider.
- Oh, that's cool.
Okay, well while we do this, do you have another spider
that you can show me how to milk it
onto a different species or something like that?
I don't really trust myself
trying to milk it for the first time.
- Yeah, funnel-webs,
they love to defend themselves vigorously.
So if you do touch one, as you might find out,
they will stand up, they will defend themselves.
- [Coyote] Is this a male?
- [Kane] This is a female as well.
This is a younger female.
- [Coyote] Okay, wow, a lot smaller.
- [Kane] A lot smaller.
- So what's the big difference,
for anybody out there watching,
between the males and females?
'Cause I'm looking at this, I'm thinking,
okay, well with tarantulas,
the females are always girthier and heavier than the males.
I guess that's the same way with the funnel-webs.
If I were to look at that, I would think,
okay, that's definitely a male as compared to this.
- Yes, now the large abdomen at the back
is definitely one way to tell.
The abdomen size compared to the head size
is one way to tell the female, and the thicker legs.
- [Coyote] Okay.
- [Kane] So the smaller of the two would be the male.
- Correct me if I'm wrong,
but it is the male that has the most potent venom,
and the one that is extremely dangerous.
- Definitely. - But a bite from a female,
this wouldn't have actually killed me last night.
- Most likely wouldn't kill you.
Unless you're unhealthy or something,
it's not going to do you a whole lot of damage.
- Okay.
- But we have to treat every bite
as a potentially life-threatening bite.
- Okay, so getting into milking.
- Yes.
- How does this process work?
Mark, you got an okay shot there?
- [Mark] Yep. - [Kane] So what will happen,
we have a little vacuum hose going down
to a little pump down there.
We don't want to have too much suction
and suck the whole spider in,
But just touching them, you can actually see
the drops of venom on the tips of the fangs.
And that's what we want.
We want to get that venom from those fangs into the pipette.
So when she stands up,
you can see she's very, very aggressive there.
- [Coyote] Oh, yeah.
- [Kane] Pushing in some venom.
We just draw the pipette down the tips of the fangs.
They are hollow just like a hypodermic syringe.
And by drawing that down as she's producing that venom,
we're just sucking it up into the tip of this pipette.
- [Coyote] Now, how many of the males do you need to milk
before you get an actual vial of venom
you can build an anti-venom from?
- [Kane] We look at having about 250 to 400 males
in any one year that we will have to milk
every single day, right through the year
to keep up with the quota we need
to give to the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories.
- [Coyote] And in your opinion, would you say
this is the most dangerous spider in the world?
- [Kane] Definitely, definitely.
- [Coyote] Okay.
- [Kane] You really do not want to get bitten
by one of these.
The good thing we have in Australia
is the reptile park produces the venom
to make the antivenom.
Since the antivenom came out in 1981,
we've had no deaths attributed to a funnel-web spider bite.
So it's very good.
- [Coyote] Really?
Okay, so the research is working, the antivenom is working,
but how many people would you say are bitten every year?
Because this is an extremely common species
that's found in suburban areas.
- [Kane] Definitely.
We have a lot of people and a lot of conflict
with the funnel-web spiders in the area.
There's about five people every year
that require a serious amount of antivenom.
There are also bites that do present at the hospital
that don't have a severe envenomation.
- Right.
- And they may not require antivenom.
It's always a last resort, the antivenom.
- Okay, now the spider that we caught last night
is a female.
And fortunately, I was not bitten, but if I was,
what would I have wanted to do in that instance?
- First thing you want to do is a full compression bandage
on the area you've been bitten.
- Okay.
- If that was on your hand, any bracelets, rings,
watches, jewelry has to come off straight away.
- So this would've been problematic?
- Definitely take it off.
It will swell up straight away.
- Let's say I was bitten on the tip of my finger.
- Basically what we're going to go with a bite
is you want to go around the bite site first of all.
- [Coyote] Okay.
- [Kane] These bandages are great.
They're going to tell us the correct tension to put it on.
When they form a square,
we know that they're going the right tension
to restrict the flow of the venom.
You go around the bite site,
and then what you're going to do,
because it's at the fingertip,
we're going to go the whole limb.
We don't stop at the wrist, we don't stop at the elbow.
We go as far up as the bandage will allow us.
Now that pressure, you can feel that it's pretty tight.
- [Coyote] Oh yeah, I feel like a mummy.
- What the idea is,
is it's restricting the flow of that venom
going through your lymphatic system.
We want to restrict that flow,
and hopefully the venom will neutralize itself
down here and not rot through your body.
- [Coyote] Okay.
- Once you've got that on there,
you're going to stay still.
If you've got a button up shirt or a sling, you put that on.
And you want to get to the hospital as soon as possible,
calling an ambulance or getting someone to drive you.
You don't want to try and drive a vehicle yourself
or you'll upend.
- Yeah, I can certainly feel
that it is providing quite a bit of pressure to my arm.
Now, like I said, as we all know, I was not bitten,
but here's the million dollar question.
Have you ever been bitten?
- I've never been bitten by any spiders, luckily.
- Really?
- So no, no spiders.
- Wow, so you're extra careful
when you're working with these spiders.
- Definitely have to be extra careful
working with these spiders.
- Yeah, well when we were filming last night,
I'll tell you what, I was nervous to be around that spider.
This is good to know.
I mean, it sounds like this is something that everybody
should have in their first aid kit here in Australia.
- Definitely in Australia.
Venomous snakes around the world differ
and in different areas you wouldn't.
In Australia, with our lipids,
this same bandage will work on any of our venomous snakes
as well as our funnel-web spiders.
- All right, well, let's take this off my arm.
I've seen you milk a spider.
I think if you guys are ready,
I am ready to milk the Sydney funnel-web.
Does that sound good to you?
- [Kane] That sounds great. I'll put this little one away.
- [Coyote] All right.
Things are about to get dangerous.
Oh boy, here we go.
(dramatic music)
I'm just going to gently coax her out.
There she is.
That is one big funnel-web spider right there.
All right, I am going to reach over here to grab a pipette.
Here we go.
Wow, look at that.
Wow, okay, you can already see the venom
coming off the tips of the fangs.
And what Kane said is that I actually want to just
kind of turn her a little bit.
- [Kane] So if you touch her back leg on this side,
she'll turn and face the pipette.
- [Coyote] Going in with the pipette.
Okay, my hand is shaking.
Just gently taking that venom off the edge of the fangs.
Wow, there we go.
Okay, there's definitely venom there inside the pipette.
If I get her to rear up a second time,
and she will just keep producing venom, right, Kane?
- [Kane] Yeah, that's correct.
Even once you've got her up like that with her legs up,
a gentle blow right towards those fangs
will sometimes get her to push some more out for you.
(mellow music)
That's it.
Just draw down the fangs.
- [Coyote] She just bit the pipette.
You can feel the power in that strike.
Okay, I think that's all the venom she has to give.
And it's not as much
as I thought was going to come out of there.
I can see why you guys have to milk so many of these spiders
to build up a vial to create that antivenom.
- [Kane] Yeah, exactly.
It's not as much as you're going to get
from one of our venomous snakes in Australia,
but it does show you how potent it is.
It's only a little amount that does a lot of damage.
- Okay, now what do I want to do with this?
- [Coyote] Put the pipette back safely over here.
- Okay, I'll hand that to you.
- [Kane] I'll take that for you.
- I'm going to just put this little capsule back over her
for safety's sake.
- [Kane] Excellent.
- There you go.
Whoa, whew.
That was nerve wracking. - Exciting stuff.
- And you do this every day, don't you?
- Every day, I love it.
- Wow.
Well this was so cool.
Thank you so much for letting me milk a funnel-web spider.
- Not a problem at all, appreciate it.
- Now it wasn't a male, it was only female,
but that doesn't matter.
The venom is still of value.
Now for everybody out there watching,
if you come across one of these spiders,
try to safely catch it and bring it here
to the Australian Reptile Park.
Because this is the only place that-
- Milks funnel-webs
for the production of antivenom in Australia.
- That's right, guys. So if you bring one here,
there is the chance that you're going to save a life.
I'm Coyote Peterson.
Be brave, stay wild.
We'll see you on the next adventure.
(upbeat music)
- [Coyote Narrating] The Australian Reptile Park
is the only sanctuary of its type in Australia
that has a spider and snake venom milking program.
And the good news is that their antivenom creation
has been saving thousands of lives for over 50 years.
If you encounter a snake or a spider
while exploring in Australia
and admire the animal from a safe distance,
your odds of being bitten are very unlikely.
However, unexpected bites do occur.
And if you find yourself in this worst case scenario,
make sure to stay calm
and seek medical treatment immediately.
(upbeat music)
(birds chirping)