1. Tarantula By: Rizalina Cabahug Period 3

2. Basic Information • Tarantulas have eight legs, two big fangs, and are really hairy. • There are about 800 species of tarantulas. • The female tarantulas are larger than the male tarantulas. • Unlike spiders, tarantulas don’t wait for their prey they catch it by pursuit. • Tarantulas have eight tiny eyes that can only see light versus dark. • Tarantulas have very sharp pointy hairs that can scratch their enemy’s eyes and cause blindness.

3. Habitat • Tarantulas mainly live in the forest on tree trunks. • Some also live on silk-lined burrows on the ground. • The other 40 or different kinds of tarantulas live warm grounded places like the desert in the south-west.

4. How tarantulas impact humans • Tarantulas impact humans by their venom by finding cures.

5. Food Chain • Predators of a tarantula are weasels, hawks, skunks, owls, and snakes. But the tarantulas worst enemy is a Spider Wasp. The one predator that the tarantula should be afraid of are humans. • Tarantula’s preys are beetles, grasshoppers, moths, millipedes, and other spiders. Larger tarantulas eat small snakes, lizards, frogs, toads, and roosting birds.

6. Something Unique about the Animal • When tarantulas mate, the male tarantula creates a sperm web. • After creating the sperm web, the male tarantula drops some of its sperm onto the web. • So then the sperm droplets just flow into the female tarantula. • Finally when the mating is over, the male tarantula escapes before the female tarantula tries to kill him.

7. Ancestors • Tarantulas belong to the family of Theraphosidae. • They are characterized having feet with two claws and two claw tufts. • When humans discovered about these large, hairy looking spiders they ended up naming them “Tarantula.”