It may be virtually the same in terms of meaning, but we are very harsh on changing the subject of the sentence. And you changed the subject from "this animal" to "this".
I do not understand this question at all.
I can imagine, that i see a picture with a very big spider or maby an aligator on it. Would this be the right time to ask this question?
I never asked this question. Not in english and not in german!? :)