Birdeaters and mouse catchers: spiders preying on vertebrates
The darkest of nights: midnight in the Brazilian rainforest. At ground level, the jungle is dusky even during the day, when sunlight barely peers through the dense canopy; after sunset, though, it is pitch black. A rustle in the leaves; a predator on the prowl. Perfectly equipped for night hunting, he navigates the inky darkness with ease. The three-striped opossum may only be as big as a mouse, but he is nonetheless a bug's worst nightmare. As this tiny terror tirelessly patrols the forest floor, his teeth make short work of any arthropod he encounters. Coming down from a tree root, our little hunter freezes. His steps led him to a sinister-looking hole in the ground, where obscurity somehow appears even thicker than around it. Near the hole, the forest floor feels strangely soft under his paws, as if covered with some sort of mat. Even though no distinct smell or sound exhales from it, it seems to radiate a diffuse, looming threat. Better not stay here. Sudden and overwhelming, ...