Lions, tigers and bears...oh my!

So I was running last night up at Rancho San Antonio and I came across a huge, black hairy tarantula ambling across the trail. Lately it seems like I've been living my life in the Discovery Channel; sea lions, coyotes, snakes, and now tarantulas. The other runners on the trail told me fall was mating seasons for tarantulas when they come out looking for partners. Which is a very good reminder for me to make sure I shave my legs before I go running!



Tarantulas are the largest spiders in the world, and in spite of how they are portrayed in the movies, are not really dangerous to humans. Tarantulas spend most of their lives underground in burrows; they sit by the entrance at night and wait for insects and other small animals to wander too close. Most people see tarantulas during mating season, when males leave their burrows and search for the burrows of adult females. Males live to be 10 or 11 years old; they die after mating. Females can live 25 years or more; they can mate and lay eggs several times during their lives.