If spiders make you squeamish, centipedes take the ick factor to another level. Despite their name, centipedes don’t have 100 legs—but they might have upwards of 300 or as few as a couple of dozen.

Giant bird-eating centipedes may sound like something out of a science-fiction film — but they’re not. On tiny Phillip Island, part of the South Pacific’s Norfolk Island group, the Phillip Island ...