The table is her stage. She moves with a ballerina’s grace, slowly lifting a leg high before extending it and delicately placing it ahead of her, en pointe.
She seems proud of those long legs, with their golden bands and soft hairs. As well she should be: They’re holding up an abdomen that would put Homer Simpson to shame.
The Chaco golden stripe is one of more than 20 tarantulas from around the world on display at the Butterfly Pavilion’s exhibit “Legend of the Tarantula,” open through Nov. 28.
They won’t be strolling out in the open, though. Visitors will see tarantulas behind glass and learn how to distinguish between what are called the Old and New World varieties. (Hint: One of the spiders is so venomous and aggressive, even the zookeepers are afraid to handle her.)
“We’ve been playing with the theme of the secret world of tarantulas,” says Nicole Bickford, vice president of programs and exhibits. “We’re hoping to get people over their fears and misconceptions.”
Aside from admiring arachnids such as the brilliant cobalt blue tarantula and the enormous Goliath bird-eater, visitors of all ages will be drawn to interactive panels and activities focused on all the senses. You’ll learn all about the anatomy, habitats, diet and cultural significance of these elusive creatures through videos and photos.
Pass through an archway and you’ll hear the hiss one species of tarantula makes by rubbing the bristles of its legs together. Touch a button below a photo and description of a tarantula, and a light on a map of the world will glow, showing you where the variety lives. Tarantula Town will lure younger children with puzzles, books and climbing elements.
Zookeeper Chad Haines, one of the team members who helped organize the world premiere of “Legend of the Tarantula,” is confident that people will flock to the exhibit.
“People like to be scared of things, so we draw them in with that, and then we help them become curious,” he says. “Suddenly, they want to learn more about the eight-legged creatures. What starts as morbid curiosity becomes respect.”
He points to a greenbottle blue tarantula, which boasts metallic blue legs, a turquoise carapace and an orange abdomen.
“There are no recorded cases of human deaths as a result of a tarantula bite, but even the pros don’t want to handle some of these,” Haines says. “You have to watch out for the colorful ones. Those bright colors are nature’s way of offering a warning to predators. They have a nastier venom, and they’re more aggressive.”
But anyone who has visited the Butterfly Pavilion will tell you that there is one species of tarantula that doesn’t mind being handled.
On permanent display in the insect room, Rosie steals the show. More than 300,000 schoolchildren and countless adults have held the famous Chilean rose-hair over the years.
On a sunny day in early September, the Butterfly Pavilion is full of schoolchildren on field trips. One petite girl looks in awe at a volunteer, who is coaxing the pink-hued tarantula into the palm of a nervous adult visitor.
Perhaps it’s all the praise from the people feeling her delicate feet gently step across their palms, but Rosie appears to constantly be blushing, from her legs to her carapace.
“She’s very gentle,” says the girl quietly, assuring the cowardly adult. “She feels soft.”
Scores of children own “I Held Rosie” stickers, says marketing director Jennifer Doane.
“She’s a who’s who in Denver,” Doane says. “She’s not just pretty and fun, she’s useful and relevant.”
Useful because tarantulas and spiders eat all the bugs that bug us, says Mary Ann Hamilton, vice president of science and conservation.
When you’re holding one of the 103 Rosies at the pavilion, think of all the roaches, mosquitoes and other insects they eat. It’s easy to feel a pang in your heart when considering that pandas and tigers are struggling to find a place in the world, but consider the plight of the tarantula. Several species are considered threatened or endangered by the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species.
Through a tarantula-breeding program at the Butterfly Pavilion, zookeepers hope to sustain some of the endangered species. The tarantulas visitors see at the pavilion come from reputable breeders, devoted to saving the species.
One of those frisky Rosies recently produced an egg sac with more than 300 little spiders. This success and others mean that in addition to the more than 200 adults permanently hanging out at the pavilion, behind the scenes, more than 500 juveniles are stretching their eight legs and peering about with their eight eyes.
“The breeding program is really why we keep males,” Hamilton says. “You won’t see them. They’re long and lanky and just not all that pretty, like Rosie. I held Rosie for the first time, and thought she’d be heavy and scary. In fact she’s light and delicate. That was it for me.
“I had an immediate appreciation for tarantulas. She’s like a gateway into invertebrates.”
Spidey sense
Of the approximately 35,000 species of spiders that exist, more than 800 are classified as true tarantulas.
After they reach maturity, some species of female tarantulas can live more than 20 years, and even longer in captivity. The male tarantula only lives about a year and a half after he reaches maturity.
Tarantulas, which are invertebrates, periodically molt, or shed their external skeletons. When they do this at the Butterfly Pavilions, they’re put in a quiet place, as they’re extremely fragile.
The big, old spiders are carnivores, and love to chow down on bugs and even small reptiles and mammals. They can’t eat their food whole but secrete digestive enzymes to liquefy their food. They then suck it up through strawlike mouth openings.
Tarantulas are either terrestrial (land creatures) or arboreal (tree dwellers). Neither terrestrial nor arboreal tarantulas spin webs the way other spiders do. They do produce silk, however, which they use to make egg sacs and line their burrows.
You wouldn’t know it to look at them, but tarantulas are really delicate little creatures. They rely on an exoskeleton for support, so if they’re dropped or they fall, they most likely won’t survive.
Yes, you can spot a tarantula in the wild in Colorado, though mostly in the southeastern part of the state. The Sugar City brown, one of three types of tarantulas that exist in the state, is actually unique to Colorado. You’ll see one Colorado tarantula on permanent display at the Butterfly Pavilion.
legend of the tarantula
Spiders show. Butterfly Pavilion, 6252 W. 104th Ave., Westminster. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily. Through Nov. 28.$8.50 adults, $6.50 seniors, $5.50 children 2-12, free for children under 2. 303-469-5441 or
