Spiders Could Literally Eat Everyone In the World In One Year If They Felt Like It

A new study conducted in the U.S. has shown that spiders are most likely in every house, without fail.

The study revealed that 100 per cent of the inspected homes in North Carolina were harbouring at least one eight-legged frenemy. It was also found that 68 per cent of bathrooms also contained spiders. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Another study released earlier this month looked into the eating habits of spiders, and arrived at a frightening question: If you were to add up the weight of all food consumed by spiders, how much would it come to? The study's two biologists, Martin Nyffeler and Klaus Birkhofer, found that spiders consume somewhere between 400 million and 800 million tons of food.

For a reference point, the seven billion humans that currently inhabit this Earth eat about 400 million tons of meat and seafood products. That means spiders effectively out-eat us. Even more disturbingly, the total mass of all human adults is estimated at 287 million tons, meaning that spiders could eat us all plus the children and still be hungry for more.

Thankfully, they don't seem to have developed an appetite for human flesh (yet). Still, it's amazing to imagine that those tiny-yet-horrifying arachnids can consume millions of tons of prey each year. Remember that next time you feel something tickling your leg in the dark.

Photo: Warner Brothers