I can understand a healthy amount of respect around species that are known to be venomous, but the unmitigated hatred and fear that some people display toward arachnids, insects, (etc) mystifies me. It is irrational and unintelligent behavior from a species that should know better.

She's quite beautiful. What size was/is she?

Methinks newer studies suggest it's a mixture of lack of knowlegde (effects of spider bites get exaggerated because people get rarely bitten) and conditioning by parent behaviour around spiders. And the whole 'they're different' thing.

She was about the size of an average European garden spider (A. diadematus).

Hmm, possibly. I'm certainly no expert on the subject but I do recall watching a documentary about phobias that went into a bit of detail about it, suggesting that for some people they are actually ingrained from birth, rather than learned behavior. Of course, experts will often change their opinions about neuropsychological behavior every 5 minutes so that may not be in vogue any longer

Ah, "average spider" sized. Still... beautiful... I love nature.

I thought that was a snake from the thumbnail *points near top of tree* Lovely spider though. I've never seen one like it.

I never get to see anything fancy in person.

Are there any botanical gardens close? I see something new there every time.

Not that I already know about, but I might check. I don't go anywhere very often.

It's lovely. ^_^

Awww she is beautiful. I can't wait for all the little ones in my area to get big and fat in the fall :D They are among my favorite spiders <33

It's adorable !! I wanna hug her... but i don't want to upset her...