Tarantula –
It’s easy to be scared of tarantulas. They’re big and nasty and they have a killer name. People like to say they are harmless, but rain on that. They give me the heebie-jeebies. I let one crawl on my hands in science class one time with a teacher I trusted, but since then I have lost my nerve. I go around now and let them be.
Tarantulas are fierce hunters, like all spiders. They mainly hunt other spiders and insects. The biggest ones can take down mice and lizards. Most of the time tarantulas live in small burrows in the ground. Tarantulas don’t chase their prey, they rely on ambush. Then they inject them with venom from two large black fangs. This venom liquefies the insides of the prey. Then they slurp the juice out through a small straw-shaped mouth.
Movies like Harry Potter and The Hobbit make it seem like tarantulas have big toothy mouths and are bloodthirsty beasts. They may be creepy, but those portrayals are silly. Movies rarely say anything right about wildlife.
Of course, having your insides turned to jelly and sucked out like a Sonic coke would be just as bad. Nature is plenty scary on its own.
