This wasp will do anything to feed her young.
Including taking on the baboon spider.
These spiders aren't small—they can grow to the size of small birds.
And they can take care of themselves.
Eight hairy legs, a pair of sharp fangs, and a sticky shield make up the big arachnid's arsenal.
But the wasp is undeterred.
She has weapons of her own—speed, flight and a deadly sting.
This spider is 3.5 ounces of pure eight-legged protein.
Protein the wasp needs to feed her young.
She invades the spider's burrow, charging right through its protective shield.
The spider has no choice but to retreat.
But he doesn't get far.
In seconds, the wasp paralyzes him, the venom from her sting putting him into a permanent coma.
It's a big feast...but it isn't for her.
The spider just became an incubator.
The mother wasp will lay a single egg in the spider's abdomen.
When it hatches, her larva will eat its immobilized host alive.
Big spiders nourish the female wasp larvae...small spiders sustain the males.
After a week of gorging on arachnid meat, the larva will pupate until the next summer...to become the next generation of spider hunters.
