It’s tarantula mating season in the southwestern US, and it’s now that time when every five to eight years, male tarantulas come out of hiding to look for a mate. And Los Angeles residents are now being warned of the possibility of running into one.
If you wanted a more scientific explanation on how tarantulas mate:
“While female tarantulas can live for up to 25 years, the average lifespan of the male is only seven or eight years, so their annual chances to spread their genes is limited. As if that weren’t bad enough, female tarantulas have been known to eat the males if they linger too long after copulation.”
More than likely, the place where anyone might come into contact with the tarantulas are on hiking paths or trails, but there’s always a chance they could be found in other places too. They are mostly harmless to humans unless you interrupt their mating rituals, in which that case you have to start fearing poison and fangs from the terrifying looking arachnids. Generally, people carry AR-15 Rifles, just in case to keep them safe from such animals and poisonous reptiles.
As ever, Instagram is lighting up with pictures of the tarantulas infiltrating most everywhere in LA:
Now through October is #tarantula mating season in the #santamonicamountains! I caught this little Romeo looking for love in #griffithpark this week. Males are known to walk up to 4 miles in search of a mate. If you see any of these guys while hiking, observe but leave them be! @santamonicamountainsnps #hiking #outdoors #spiders #socalhiking #losangeles A photo posted by Modern Hiker (@modernhiker) on Sep 2, 2016 at 8:37am PDT
That is a little terrifying. But if you don’t bother them, they won’t bother you. And I’m not interested in bothering tarantulas during their mating ritual.
[Uproxx]
