Photos of a giant huntsman spider have gone viral on Facebook with a combined 18,000 comments among the two pictures of the Queensland, Australia, spider that was taken two years ago.
Barnyard Betty's Rescue, the Queensland animal sanctuary that posted the photos on its website, has given the name Charlotte to the creepy spider, CBS News reported. The large huntsman spider, whose leg span stretches up to a foot, is known to be gentle and harmless.
"I'm not sure why now but she is going absolutely viral and become an internet sensation," the rescue said on its Facebook page about the photos that were first posted a year ago. "Messages are flooding in and I'll do my best to answer them but there are so many."
The two photos of Charlotte had more than 9,000 comments each, with one receiving more than 10,000 likes while the other photo was shared more than 4,800 times.
"She was a beautiful, calm spider, not aggressive in any way and like most spiders she just wanted to go about her business eating bugs and living in peace," the rescue said in the Facebook statement. "She didn't or doesn't need to be killed. Poor spiders are so misunderstood."
Robert Raven, the Queensland Museum's principal curator and head of terrestrial environments, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. Thursday that the size of the spider in the photo is more of an optical illusion.
"The tree and the broom are in focus so you're getting this unusual perspective," Raven told the broadcaster. "It's quite a normal size of this species — and I've got a live one on my desk at the moment — the placement of the tree behind it makes it look like it is as big as the tree."
A Facebook video of another huntsman spider dragging a mouse up a refrigerator in Australia late month also went viral with 294,000 shares and 94,000 comments.
The Barnyard Betty Rescue spider spread fear on social media.