Rainforest Animals: Tarantula

The name tarantula inspires fear in many and brings visions of giant hairy black spiders that can eat even birds! But contrary to popular belief, most of the Tarantulas are not dangerous to humans and their bite cannot kill you, although you might feel sick. Tarantulas can be found both in rainforests as well as desserts. Tarantulas generally eat frogs, small snakes, beetles, lizards, bats and even birds.  

The original Tarantula spider is found in the town of Taranto in southern Italy and it is a small hairy spider about two inches in size and completely harmless to humans. However, the people of the town believed its bite was fatal and the only cure was a mad dance called Tarantella, which left the bitten victim to spin and jump till they fell down exhausted and were proclaimed cured. It is likely that visitors may have mistaken this dance for death spasms and given the tarantula its ill reputation!

It was later discovered that most deaths attributed to the Tarantula were actually caused by the Black Widow which is belongs to a different family of spiders called Latrodectus.

These days, because of imagination and Hollywood almost all hairy black spiders are dubbed tarantulas. Tarantulas are found in various parts of South America, North America, Brazil, Chile, Amazon Basin and also in the desserts of Africa and forests of India.

The body of the Tarantula is quite an interesting bit of natural architecture. Each of their legs has seven parts and end with two tiny claws with hair for extra grip while climbing. They also have the ability to regenerate their leg.  These spiders have eight eyes, but tend to have quite bad vision and rather Tarantulas use their hair to sense movement around them. These hairs can also cause irritation if touched and the tarantulas actually throw these hairs at their enemies by flicking their back legs! One of the scary attributes of the Tarantula is its huge fangs which are often used to hold the prey immobile.

Tarantulas generally don’t build webs, thus leading to the conclusion that they are venomous. Many of their species live on trees and build their nest by burrowing under pieces of bark that have peeled off. Tarantulas also like to hunt like other four footed animals by prowling on the ground or on the trees and pouncing on its prey and grabbing it by the fangs and injecting it with its venom which can kill its small prey. Since they don’t have teeth, Tarantulas use their digestive juices to melt the soft tissue and literally slurp it all in.

One of the more venomous species of the Tarantula is the Pink Toe Tarantula (Avicularia), which can be found in the rainforests of South America. The female of these species can live up to 10 years but the males die within 6 years. The Rose Hair Tarantula is found in the rainforests of Chili, South America and grows up to 4 inches in size. The females of these species live up to 20 years while the males die off by 5 years. However the most celebrated of the Tarantulas is the Goliath bird-eating tarantula.

These giant spiders are found in the rainforests of South America, Suriname, Brazil (Amazon Rainforest), Guyana and Venezuela. Harmless to humans, these spiders can grow up to 11 inches in size i.e. almost as big as a dinner plate. They are venomous but their bites cannot kill humans and most often they give dry bites. However, their hair can cause real health problems and allergies in humans.

The giant bird eating tarantula gathers it name from its unique ability to hunt birds. They can crawl high enough on trees to get into birds’ nests or pounce on them mid flight and inject them with their venom, bringing them crashing down to the forest floor. These spiders have also inspired Hollywood with their unique ability to actually screech, which no other spider can produce. The sound is actually made by rubbing their legs together and not through vocal chords. The sound is loud enough to be heard 15 feet away and thus give the tarantula its undeserved reputation.

Tarantulas are also kept as pet, which encourages trading in these species and is beginning to threaten its existence and habitat.