LOS ANGELES (AP) – Tarantulas are out looking for love, and hikers in Southern California’s Santa Monica Mountains are warned to watch out for the hairy spiders.
Tarantula mating season has begun, and it will last through the end of October, the National Park Service said Thursday.
That means the giant arachnids will spend the next two months weaving webs just above ground, outside the female’s burrow, the Los Angeles Times reported (http://lat.ms/2bWXjyq).
Because females typically stay inside, if a hiker comes across a tarantula on a footpath, it’s probably a male on the lookout for a mate, experts say. Males have been known to search for up to four miles to find a female.
Though they have fangs and carry poison, tarantulas are not considered a serious threat to humans.