AMERICANALMANAC (Charles McAdams) - Tarantula mating season sends males on a one-way march across 15 states
Tens of thousands of male tarantulas are leaving their underground burrows right now to search for mates across the American South and Southwest, a brief, driven journey most will not survive. The annual migration is already underway from Arizona to Arkansas, with roughly 30 species of tarantula active across 15 states between late August and […] The post Tarantula mating season sends males on a one-way march across 15 states appeared first on American Almanac .
Tens of thousands of male tarantulas are leaving their underground burrows right now to search for mates across the American South and Southwest, a brief, driven journey most will not survive. The annual migration is already underway from Arizona to Arkansas, with roughly 30 species of tarantula active across 15 states between late August and October. Males that have spent five to ten years underground emerge for the first and only mating season of their lives, crossing roads, trails, and open desert in search of a female's burrow. Within months of mating, or failing to, they die. For residents in the affected states, the season means more spider sightings on roads and near homes. But entomologists and wildlife officials say the…Open