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ResidentSadist -> RE: The stuff of nightmares (6/5/2012 10:50:45 AM)
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"That's why I constantly try to move further and further north, into ever colder climates..."
Sorry dude, "Tarantulas hibernate in the winter, as do many other spiders, by hiding beneath tree bark or under rocks, leaves, and other types of insulating debris." They will get you in the great white north. Something to think about next time you watch the movie Ice Spiders.
[img]http://www.tadcaster.com/images/music/IceSpiders_small.jpg[/img]
Sources:
http://www.spiderzrule.com/answers.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarantula
[img]http://www.crystalonnet.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/client_page_logo/times-of-india-logo.jpg[/img]
"It's similar to the tarantula, but it could be a whole new species. There aren't any arachnologists in the northeast, so it will take us a while to identify it. But whatever the species, it is a highly aggressive spider. It leaps at anything that comes close. Some of the victims claimed the spider latched onto them after biting. If that is so, it needs to be dealt with carefully. The chelicerae and fangs of this critter are quite powerful; but it's too early to declare it a killer spider."
"People wouldn't have panicked like this; they are scared because they have seen something like this for the first time and don't know how to deal with it. They are used to the common house spider, which runs away when you even snap your finger close to it. But this spider attacks if you try to scare it off. Those who were bitten have said that when they tried to shoo it off, it leapt at them and buried its fangs."
more . . .
So where is a picture of the star of the show?
All photos in news feeds are stock Tarantula photos I've never heard of a Brazilian Black Velvet Tarantulas in India. However, maybe this is the revenge of the Peacock Blue Tarantula because poachers kidnapped their relatives (see story below about new species)? Admittedly Gooty where the rare Peacock Tarantula was discovered and Sadiya are 3,191 km apart but the Peacock was discovered in railway station. It may have traveled south to warmer regions.
New Species from India
(not the ones from the invaded village but another kind)
"The spectacular Peacock Tarantula was named on the basis of a single specimen obtained at Gooty (Andhra Pradesh) railway station’s timber yard in 1899. Naturalists doggedly searched the area for the spider. About 102 years later, some distance from Gooty, they found the most beautiful spider in the world in a totally degraded forest. Within five hours. While this re-discovery went totally unnoticed in India, it set the network of European and American animal dealers buzzing. Within a year 12 specimens of the tarantula were smuggled out of the country and the babies hit the pet trade the following year. In 2005 when I visited an exotic pet expo in the United States each baby was worth US $350, down from $1,000 in 2003."
Excerpt from: An Unquiet Mind
[img]http://skeptic.skepticgeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Species_PeacockTarantula1.jpg[/img]
What the hell is ResidentSadist doing messing around in the Off Topic forums?
Long ago (In the 80s) I used to keep several species of Tarantula as pets from the super friendly Pinktoed and Brazilian Black Velvet to the more aggressive types that get territorial and attack anything that enter the terrarium. I had elaborate back lit underground sections in the terrariums to expose the tunnels and dens. I was fascinated by insects and a great many terrariums.
I had converted the basement with rows and rows of commercial grade pet store style racks, three tier displays for tanks with scorpions, millipedes and spiders. I was exposed to a fair amount of insect behavior. Of all the various insects I was exposed to, I really grew to like the Tarantula. They had personality, emotional moods, intellect, used tools, built structures and some even had the human equivalent of personality problems in that they had false pregnancies. They would play with you, chase the pencil and even bite it but crawl up and sit docile in your hand. As far as dumb-ass bugs go, they got it going on compared to many others.
So I wonder what it is that triggered them in India, these things that distinguish killing and eating mice as food, playing with a pencil or siting peacefully in Master's hand... what triggered these spiders to invade a village. It would seem the invasion started during a festival . . . did they burn the wrong kind of incense at the festival and trigger some primal response in the spiders? Did the festival date coincide with some natural event in the spider's life cycle.
Whatever the case may be, I expect this to become an interesting story as it unfolds.
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