Could a spider kill and eat a snake?

The question might sound like a schoolyard hypothetical, but it’s the topic of a new study published in the Journal of Arachnology. The answer is a resounding yes—so much so that even the scientists who conducted the study were stunned by their results.

“I was surprised that snake-eating by spiders can be found on all continents (except Antarctica),” says study leader Martin Nyffeler, a spider expert at the University of Basel in Switzerland. “I was surprised that so many different spider groups are capable of killing and eating snakes. I was surprised that so many different snake species are occasionally killed