Planet’s Largest Known Tarantula Coming to Academy of Natural Sciences


Courtesy of Outhouse Exhibit Services

Courtesy of Outhouse Exhibit Services

Shut down this page right now, arachnophobes, or risk not resting easy from around February to May of next year. That’s how long Drexel’s Academy of Natural Sciences will host a massive exhibition on what is arguably the world’s most chill-bump-inducing creature in “Tarantulas: Alive and Up Close.”

The exhibition will spotlight the 900 known species of tarantulas, teaching spectators about their living and dining habits, and all the other ways they survive in diverse landscapes around the world. Unlike some of the exhibitions at the Academy of Natural Sciences that are bones or replicas of terrifying creatures, many of these eight-legged visitors will be living and breathing, separated from the spectator by a mere pane of glass. Others include the “rare greenbottle blue tarantula, and the Indian ornamental tarantula,” which both sound suspiciously beautiful.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a handful of family-friendly activities, like a workshop on air current that answers why tarantulas are so hairy, kids will be able to scurry around in a tarantula burrow, play a “Name That Tarantula” game, and do some exploring on an interactive map called “Tarantulas of the World.”

“Tarantulas: Alive and Up Close” opens at Academy of Natural Sciences on January 30, 2016 and will show through May 30th. For more information — and your daily dose of heeby jeebies — go here

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