Tarantulas have one pair of eyes in the middle and three eyes on each side of their head.
Our gallery theme this month is “Predators”. This predator navigates the dark desert ground using eight legs and eight eyes! Tarantulas have one pair of eyes in the middle and three eyes on each side of their head. These predators inhabit every continent on earth except Antarctica!
This photo was taken in Big Bend National Park in west Texas. We were camping in the desert, and one night we were coming back from shooting some astrophotography. I was using a flashlight to lookout for scorpions, which we did encounter, when we came across this tarantula. Fortunately, I had my camera ready so I got down low to get a better perspective. Although these spiders look scary, they are harmless. Bites are rare. Even if a tarantula did bite you, their bite is harmless to humans. Knowing this, I took the opportunity to get as close as I could to the spider, taking into consideration the focal length of my lens. I was only a few inches from the tarantula for this photo. After a couple photos, we both carried on with our night.
Check out the Wild Boyz Photography Spider Archives
What do tarantulas eat? Insects! Tarantulas are generally active in the late evening and night, once things have cooled off. Although, we saw tarantulas during the day and night during our time in Big Bend National Park. In addition to eating insects, female tarantulas will sometimes eat male tarantulas after mating! That is some ruthless predation. Even if the female does not eat the male, she will go on to live much longer than him. Males tarantulas tend to live for <10 years, and females tend to live for < 30 years.
Tarantulas are generally active in the late evening and night, once things have cooled off.
Did you know?
- The oldest tarantula ever recorded lived to be 43 years old! The lifespan of a tarantula can vary depending on several factors including its species and sex.
- Big Bend National Park supports a variety of wildlife, including 3,600 species of insects, 450 species of birds, 75 species of mammals, 40 species of fish, and 56 species of reptiles!
- Tarantulas are the largest spiders on earth. A spider known as “The Goliath birdeater” (Theraphosa blondi) is the largest spider by weight. It can weigh over 6 ouches! As the name implies, this tarantula is capable of eating birds!
- South America is where you can find the most tarantula species!
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