Giant spiders on Mars? I hope not.

David Bowie always sings about giant spiders on planet Mars. All scientific data leads me to believe that there could be an insect lifeform on Mars; Specifically, Spiders. How did he know that there were spiders on Mars?

Now saying that, I have Arachnophobia, that is the the fear of spiders. So if such spiders lived on Mars I would be greatly dissapointed, because I wouldn't want to be anywhere close to those spiders, even if they were microscopical. One night I was staying at a motel and I saw this minute spider on the ceiling, it wasn't moving, but I felt so much fear I had couldn't sleep. I got up and managed to kill it.

So I hope that David Bowie was wrong. Hoping he just had bad dreams and wrote about it. Now I ask you this, if there were to be spiders on Mars would you care? would you consider them to be alien-like or would it be dissapointed? I would nuke the entire planet if such infestation was found, before ever landing there. Discuss.


Link.

www.marslife.com...

[edit on 12-5-2008 by jedimiller]

Hi there, leaving aside the poor spider that was flattened, don't you think the idea of giant spiders (insect-world predators basically) being on Mars is rather ludicrous. Giant spiders would require a constant and substantial food source. What would they eat? Rocks? Is all this happening underground?
I think the best we can hope for on Mars is some sort of unicelluar organisms in the sand and rocks. And this on it's own would be absolutely incredible.

If there was spiders on Mars, then there would have to be an even larger number of insect prey available to support them. Their prey would in turn have to have enough food to support them, so we'd be talking about a whole complex food chain of organisms. The gravity on Mars is different so perhaps spiders could grow larger there than they can on earth.

So, if spiders did exist on Mars (unlikely), you would really nuke an entire planet and risk killing every organism just because of a fear spiders? Man, that's some phobia! You should really try to overcome it by meeting it head on. I've got a few tarantulas and i've cured quite a few people that claimed to be severly arachnophobic by showing them that spider aint scary at all. They're just misunderstood. once you understand then you find out that they're pretty cool and so well designed.

As far as I know, David Bowie had no means of knowing if Mars was home to giant spiders, so I reckon were safe on that front.

If there is life on Mars it's gonna be tiny, as in bacteria, or living under the surface. In which case, large spiders probably could exist.

Remember to pack the Raid if you ever plan a caving trip to Mars.

When I was a child I was getting out of bed and suddenly this giant tarantula came out from under it, scared the heck outta me. from that point on I hate spiders. About Bowie, I believe he's an alien himself and he may know something we don't. when I say giant spiders I mean, not giant to us, but about 1 feet tall, about the size of a pet living underground.

Miller... you continue to surprise me with random out of the blue theories. This one im afraid, I just can't believe possible. As it has already been said, for spiders to survive, they must eat. would this mean giant flies? What do the giant flies survive on, giant poo?

I think there is more chance of there being a giant face under a giant mountain like on 'mission to mars'.. i love that film and think it is very possible that the theory displayed in the film could be very plausible.

By the way.. if you ever get a spider in your room again, try catching it i a large glass and looking at it's eyes. See how frantic it is to get out. Or just leave it, I had one holed up in the corner of my living room last summer and it had a routine, it would disappear during the day then come back again at night and I would fed it greenflies.. they're nothin to be afraid of!

David Bowie actually played an alien in the movie "The Man Who Fell To Earth" in 1976.

Link: en.wikipedia.org...(film)

Ziggystar60, sworn David Bowie fan.

[edit on 12-5-2008 by ziggystar60]

You know what Jedi? You would have been a perfect TV Show Host for the Childrens channel. Personally, if I where between 5 to 10 years old, I would have listened to you