J'ba fofi

J'ba fofi Illustration of the j'ba fofi, based on a Baka depiction photographed by Bill Gibbons. Category Arachnida Proposed scientific names Other names Country reported Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo First reported 2001 Prominent investigators • Bill Gibbons

The j'ba fofi (Baka: "great spider") is a cryptid arachnid reported from the tropical rainforests of Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where it is ethnoknown to the Baka people.

Description

The j'ba fofi is described as a brown, tarantula-like spider with a legspan of 3–4 ft (91–121 cm), or 5–6 ft (1.5–1.8 m), and they are described as having a purple mark on their abdomens. Further, according to the Baka, they lay white peanut-sized eggs, and the spiderlings have yellow bodies and purple opisthosomas.

The Baka report that the j'ba fofi used to construct "huts" made of leaves in the forest near villages, and that they caught their prey, which included animals as large as duikers, by spinning trip lines across game trails. Although they are reputed to be venomous enough to kill people, the Baka people themselves, despite giving them a wide berth, kill them when they encounter them, as they are considered a delicacy. According to the Baka, they were once quite common, but as of 2003 they had become rarer, although one had been seen in June of that year.

Sightings

1938

The best-known alleged j'ba fofi sighting occurred in 1938 in the interior of the Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), and was made by explorers Reginald and Margurite Lloyd. Whilst driving down a jungle path, a figure crawled out onto the road ahead of their car, which Reginald Lloyd took to be a cat or a monkey, or even a small human. He stopped the car to let the figure pass, and, seeing that it was in fact an enormous spider, turned to get his camera, only for the spider to scuttle away into the undergrowth. The account was later passed on to Bill Gibbons by the Lloyds' daughter, Margaret.

Theories

Karl Shuker points out that, although the j'ba fofi's habitat is remote enough to hide it from science, the tracheal respiratory system of arachnids, which cannot transport oxygen throughout such a large organism, would prevent a normal spider from reaching such sizes in modern times, leading him to write that "if a giant spider does thrive in some secluded, far-off realm, it must have evolved a radically different, much more advanced respiratory system, not just a greatly enlarged body".

One precendent for such a respiratory system is the coconut crab (Birgus latro), which can attain a legspan of 3 ft (91 cm), and which has evolved a branchiostegal lung which allows it to live on land despite its size. Another theory is that giant "spiders" such as the j'ba fofi are in fact giant terrestrial crustaceans similar to these coconut crabs, although Shuker is sceptical of this, noting that crustaceans "are very different in appearance from spiders, due in no small way to their instantly visible chelae".