Amazon Tarantulas
King of the Spiders: Hairy, Fanged and the Largest in the World
Unlike the dinosaur, the tarantula learned to adapt to changing conditions and climates. The tarantula´s greatest threat now is man.
A Description of the Tarantula, God´s Persistent Little Hairy Eight-Legged Bugger
Tarantulas have crawled the face of the earth since time out of mind-- or, more exactly, at least since the time of the dinosaurs.
There are no known spiders on the earth that are larger than the tarantula, and the very biggest are to be found in the Amazon, where all things seem big. Tarantulas are hairy and come in many different colours. They belong to the family of theraphosidae. The biggest tarantula is Pseudotherathosa apophysis. This happy camper has a leg span of about 13 inches or 33 cm. Most tarantulas found in the Amazon area have what are called urticating, or barbed, hairs; when the hairs come into contact with soft tissue (this includes parts of the human body), they penetrate into the tissue to cause an urtication, or irritation.
Tarantulas have a hard exoskeleton rather than an internal skeleton. Each of the tarantula's legs has two tiny claws at the end. The claws have cushioned pads behind them like a cat's. The hairs on the legs and body have a sensitivity to touch, temperature and smell.
Tarantulas live in underground burrows or else on the ground or in trees.
Some tarantulas can live to be 25 or even 30 years old. One this old will invariably be female, as male tarantulas usually die within a few months after mating.
The Pink-Toe Tarantula: A High-Humidity Spider
A common tarantula of the Amazon basin is the pink-toe tarantula. Its love of humidity and the Amazon's plentiful supply of humidity make it a natural fit for this region. The pink-toe, with its docile nature, has the distinction of being a popular pet among tarantula pet lovers.
The pink toe is dark, with, as might readily be expected from its name, a pink colour at the ends of its legs. This species of tarantula is relatively short-lived compared to others. Females live for just eight to nine years, while males meet their tarantula maker after just three years.
Colour Coordination in the Amazon: Introducing the Red and Black Tarantulas
Two other common tarantula species found in the Amazon are the red tarantula and black tarantula. As for the black tarantula, this slow-moving, cricket-eating tarantula is even more docile than its pink-toe cousin, and is therefore also commonly kept as a pet.
The red tarantula, on the other hand, is considered more aggressive and bad-tempered, while also being larger and rarer than the black tarantula. Living up to its name, it has long red hairs covering its body and is large and shaggy. In other words, it may look a lot like a leftover hippy from the 60's.
The Delicious Diet of the Tarantula
The tarantula, like other carnivores, will eat what meat it can get. It generally eats such tasty titbits as grasshoppers, millipedes, beetles, other spiders, small snakes and lizards, frogs and the occasional small bird.
Now to the Good Part: How Does the Tarantula Kill Its Prey?
Tarantulas have venomous fangs with which they inject a chemical into the prey that dissolves its flesh. Tarantulas have powerful jaws to make quick work of their prey by crushing it. Most tarantulas play the waiting game, letting the prey come to them.
Are Tarantulas a Threat to Humans? Have They Ever Killed Anyone?
The tarantula's reputation as a dangerous killer among humans is unfounded, as no human has ever died of a tarantula bite. In fact, the continuing encroachment of man on the Amazon and other areas where it lives makes us a far greater threat to the tarantula than it is to us.
As for what the future holds, that is another story. Science-fiction lovers will perhaps have little trouble envisioning 50-foot mutant tarantulas spawned by an A-bomb descending on New York City and having Manhattan for lunch.
Other articles in this series:
Piranha, Little Attacker of Humans
