I'm a little bummed we didn't think of one of those 'school trip to the capital' giant photos in time to put it together. that would have rawked.

Yes, but unless you live in Alaska, you'll pretty much only ever see the legs. Which look like food, not spiders. (Same with lobster -- whole, they look like the overgrown bugs they are. But their tails look like food.)

That was the only part of the zoo that made me hungry. I kept thinking "yummy" in the exoskeletal critter section.

Except for the giant roaches.

Except for the giant roaches.

So... the bird-eating spider did get you salivating?

There was no bird eating spider.

(Same with lobster -- whole, they look like the overgrown bugs they are. But their tails look like food.)

You know how people talk kinda mockingly about the early New England colonists not realizing what a good food resource lobsters were at first? Well, I've heard that back in the day, before they were fished so extensively, lobsters were often 4-5 FEET long. If I saw something that looked like that and was that big, would I think, "Mmm, tasty, where's the butter?" No, I would not. I would scream and run away.

The colonists must have thought they were sea monsters.

Hell, they WERE sea monsters.

Did you see Theo's picture of the big lobster at the zoo?

It's the biggest lobster I've ever seen and those claws were HUGE not really something I would want to get my fingers (or hands or feet) near.

Did you see Theo's picture of the big lobster at the zoo?

No--I've been skipping and skimming a lot these days.

The lobsters were COOL. They had this sort of walk/swim that was really beautiful.

Not as nice as some drawn butter, mind you...

Crabs walk sideways, and lobsters walk straight,
So we won't let you take one for your mate... t /Smothers Bros

Largest lobster I ever saw was at the fish market in Amsterdam. We thought it was stuffed - it was sitting on its own table. We thought it was a big plastic advertisement for the fishmonger, and then it moved, and I nearly had heart failure. It wasn't for sale - it was a pet, of all things. The vendor told us it weighed close to fifteen pounds, and I had no trouble believing that. Sea monster is right.

Their flesh looks like food. Their tails look like a strange way to spend an afternoon.

(choking to death laughing, over here)