i was watching the stand up show Animals by ricky gervais in which he claims daddy long legs (crane flies) have the most deadly toxin in the animal world but lack any jaws to administer it. Is this true or just some comedic license.
2006-10-09 02:56:21 · 29 answers · asked by ebayphonehome 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
I have heard this story before, it is fake. Daddy long legs spiders are not poisonous in a deadly way. I found a site for you to read to clarify this. Good luck!
http://spiders.ucr.edu/daddylonglegs.html
2006-10-09 03:02:09 · answer #1 · answered by fatiima 5 · 3⤊ 0⤋
The trouble with this is that Daddy long legs in the UK means something different to in the USA. In the USA it's a spider with very long legs in comparison to it's body where as in the UK it is a crane fly. Two totally different animals. So it's pointless talking about the Ricky Gervais show in terms of myth busters.
However I suspect it is rubbish. Animals develop venom for a reason and those with the most powerful venom live in areas where prey is scarce, like the australian desert. This is to ensure that anything they bite dies instantly and so cannot get away.
Since the spider one was disproved by myth busters and crane flys live in the UK it is very likely that this is just another silly urban myth.
2006-10-09 06:37:28 · answer #2 · answered by PETER F 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's a myth. There's some confusion over whether daddy long legs are craneflies or spiders (There's more than one beastie called a daddy long legs, depends where you live). Craneflies are definitely not venomous at all, and there's no evidence that the spider's venom has a detrimental effect on humans. If you check the wikipedia reference, they actually cite Ricky Gervais as a major spreader of the myth!
2006-10-09 03:09:08 · answer #3 · answered by lauriekins 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
no...poison is ingested, inhaled...They have the most venomous venom. That is the most correct way to say it. But you would actually have to be more specific on the Daddy Long Legs. That guy Ricky Gervais is not an expert. Look it up and see for yourself.
2006-10-09 05:25:14 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's absolutely just a myth started up by a wise old Daddy Long Legs when he was trying to come up with an idea to stop little boys from ripping the legs off his species.
2006-10-09 07:34:02 · answer #5 · answered by moonbeam 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I thought that was Dragon flies, not crane flies [daddy long legs]. They are supposed to have teh posionous venon per volume, but their probosci can't penetrate human skin and if they do bite an animal the venom is in too small a portion to have any effect.
Different story if you are another insect.
2006-10-09 05:18:09 · answer #6 · answered by Boroboy 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The daddy long legs aren't poisonous but Ricky Gervais is in one sense: he's spreading misinformation.
2006-10-09 04:11:28 · answer #7 · answered by elitetrooper459 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't know if it is true or not, but daddy long legs are the creepiest things ever. When I was in Texas a few years ago the whole front of the house was covered with hundreds of thousands of "balls" of them. When we turned the light on they would scatter then move back together. I had nightmares for a very long time about it.
2006-10-09 03:05:53 · answer #8 · answered by Luvmt 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Daddy long legs are very poisonous, not the most poisonous poison known to man though. It is also true that they do not have the fangs to administer it. If they did we would all be in trouble!
2006-10-09 03:13:30 · answer #9 · answered by Marlene 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Methinks `tis a joke.
The only thing that we Brits call a daddy longlegs is a threat to is a lawn, as the grubs eat grass roots.That`s how you tell females from males, the females have pointed abdomens for laying eggs in the soil.
2006-10-09 07:25:06 · answer #10 · answered by badger_shaman 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋