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This week let's learn about my nemesis (in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, at least), the tarantula!\n\nFurther reading:\n\nTarantulas inspire new structural color with the greatest viewing angle\n\nMy character in Animal Crossing (and the shirt I made her--yes, I know tarantulas are arachnids, not insects, but I think the shirt is funny):\n\n \n\nBoy who is not afraid of a tarantula:\n\n\n\nThe Goliath birdeater and a hand. Not photoshopped:\n\n\n\nThe cobalt blue tarantula:\n\n\n\nThe Gooty sapphire ornamental:\n\n\n\nThe Singapore blue tarantula:\n\n\n\nThe painting by Maria Sibylla Merian that shows a tarantula eating a hummingbird (lower left):\n\n\n\nThe pinktoe tarantula that Merian painted:\n\n\n\nThe great horned baboon (not actually a baboon):\n\n\n\nShow transcript:\n\nWelcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I\u2019m your host, Kate Shaw.\n\nJust over two weeks ago I got a Nintendo Switch Lite and I\u2019ve been playing Animal Crossing New Horizons a lot. I\u2019m having a lot of fun with it, so let\u2019s have a slightly Animal Crossing-themed episode and learn about my nemesis in the game, the tarantula.\n\nA tarantula is a spider in the family Theraphosidae, and there are something like twelve hundred species. They live throughout much of the world, including most of the United States, Central and South America, Africa and some nearby parts of southern Europe and the Middle East, most of Asia, and Australia.\n\nThe tarantula is a predator, and while it can spin silk it doesn\u2019t build a web to trap insects. It goes out and actively hunts its prey. It uses its silk to make a little nest that it hides in when it\u2019s not hunting. Some species dig a burrow to live in but will line the burrow with silk to keep it from caving in and, let\u2019s be honest, probably to make it more comfortable. The burrow of some species is relatively elaborate, for example those of the genus Brachypelma, which is from the Pacific coast of Mexico. Brachypelma\u2019s burrow has two chambers, one reserved for molting its exoskeleton, one used for everyday activities like eating prey. Brachypelma usually sits at the entrance of its burrow and waits for a small animal to come near, at which point it jumps out and grabs it.\n\nMany species of tarantula live in trees, but because they tend to be large and heavy spiders, falling out of a tree can easily kill a tarantula. But also because they\u2019re large and heavy spiders, they can\u2019t hold onto vertical surfaces the way most spiders do, using what\u2019s called dynamic attachment. Most spiders have thousands of microscopic hairs at the end of their legs that allow it to hold onto surfaces more easily. But no matter what you learned from Spider-Man movies and comics, this doesn\u2019t work very effectively for heavier animals, and many tarantulas are just too heavy. The tarantula does have two or three retractable claws at the end of its legs, but it\u2019s also able to release tiny filaments of silk from its feet if it starts to slip, which anchors it in place.\n\nLike other spiders, the tarantula has eight legs. It also has eight eyes, but the eyes are small and it doesn\u2019t have very good vision. Most tarantulas are also covered with little hairs that make them appear fuzzy. These aren\u2019t true hairs but setae [pronounced see-tee] made of chitin, although they do help keep a tarantula warm. They also help a tarantula sense the world around it with a specialized sense of touch. The setae are sensitive to the tiniest air currents and air vibrations, as well as chemical signatures.\n\nMany species of tarantula have special setae called urticating spines that can be dislodged from the body easily. If a tarantula feels threatened, it will rub a leg against its abdomen, dislodging the urticating spines. The spines are fine and light so they float upward away from the spider on the tiny air currents made by the tarantula\u2019s legs, and right into the face of whatever animal is threatening it. The spines are covered with microscopic barbs that latch onto whatev...