Halloween Festival Celebrates Tarantulas
Coarsegold, California’s annual Tarantula Festival
How much do you know about tarantulas? Head to Coarsegold Oct.28, 2017 to learn about the spiders, participate in tarantula races & derbies, and have some Halloween fun.
Tarantula Interesting Facts
Tarantulas are a delicacy in Venezuela and Cambodia. Tarantulas range from as small as a fingernail to as large as a dinner plate weighing up to 6 ounces (nearly half a pound!)
Some types have been around for 16 million years.
Regardless of their fearsome reputation, tarantulas are objects of predation.
Female tarantulas can live up to 40 years.
Like all arthropods, the tarantula is an invertebrate that relies on an exoskeleton for muscular support.
They are burrowers that live in the ground.
All tarantulas can produce silk.
Fear Factor
There is no record of a tarantula bite causing a human fatality.
Tarantulas are venomous and can cause spasms, pain, hallucinations, muscle cramps and allergic reaction.
Tarantulas flick off urticating hairs as a defense mechanism. The barbed hairs can cause serious itching and rashes, breathing problems if inhaled and eye damage.
