Before this catches on with miserable adult babies reblogging to only add “KILL IT WITH FIRE” or some other idiotic, unfunny meme:
This is a mature female spider of the Nephila genus. I’m not sure the exact species, but members of this genus are also known as “golden silk orb weavers.” Their yellow-orange silk can be used to make golden cloth, like in this tapestry.
The bite of a Nephila isn’t serious. Wikipedia describes the worst case scenario - localized pain or a more severe allergic reaction - but most bitten will only experience a little itching. Like any spider, they only bite in self defense or when forcibly pressed against skin, and these big females are especially docile. I’ve held a related species on two occasions, they don’t scare very easily.
They’re so laid back, in fact, and so insistent on remaining in the same web, that these are the spiders some cultures have used as mosquito guards, deliberately setting them up to spin webs in open windows or over the top of a baby’s crib.
You can trust spiders with babies. Don’t be an asshat about your phobia plz. (By which I mean it’s perfectly okay to have a phobia and be afraid, but you don’t need to hate all spiders and wish they were all dead they didn’t do anything but get born spiders)
Since the old link to the golden tapestry is broken, here’s another one.
[photo from the NPR article linked above; R. Mickens/AMNH]
