Why did the tarantula cross the road?

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From: Paul Doherty (pauld@exploratorium.edu)
Date: Fri Sep 29 2000 - 10:31:50 PDT 

Message-Id: <l03110752b5fa827dfc8e@[192.174.2.173]>
Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2000 09:31:50 -0800
From: Paul Doherty <pauld@exploratorium.edu>
Subject: Why did the tarantula cross the road?

>X-Sender: nrt@hamilton.com
>Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2000 17:24:29 -0700
>To: pauld@exploratorium.edu, hibbert@agorics.com, murray@pa.dec.com,
> ayers@Adobe.COM (Robert Ayers)
>From: Nancy Teater <nrt@hamilton.com>
>Subject: Why did the tarantula cross the road?
>Cc: richard@hamilton.com
>Mime-Version: 1.0
>
>Richard and I saw a tarantula crossing the walking path near the Dish this
>morning. I went to (I am not making this up) the American Tarantula Society
>web site to find out what it was up to. Simple: looking for sex!
>-----------------------
>When a male tarantula molts for his final time, he emerges as a mature
>male, and will usually be darker in color (often black), depending on
>species. Males also are usually longer and slimmer than females with
>smaller abdomens on average. Mature male tarantulas native to the US are
>not long-lived. Even in captivity, their lifespans seem to be less than a
>year, and some only a few months or less. In nature, the life span of the
>male tarantula may be measured in a matter of minutes, hours, days, or
>weeks. They have no interest in anything other than finding a mate. They
>are also, like all tarantulas, harmless to humans. Their venom is of no
>medical
>significance. They are nocturnal, and if one shows up in or around your
>house, it's just because he is trying to hide out during the day to return
>to his search at night (or maybe you have female tarantulas living around
>your house).
>--
>Nancy R. Teater Hamilton Communications phone: +1 650 321 0252
>nrt@hamilton.com http://web.hamilton.com fax: +1 650 327 4660
>

Paul "But it is more complicated than that!" Doherty,
Senior Staff Scientist, The Exploratorium.
pauld@exploratorium.edu, www.exo.net/~pauld

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