Tarantula Blamed for Death Valley Crash

Canadian motorcyclist was hospitalized, but the 'spider walked away unscathed,' NPS says
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 30, 2023 4:15 PM CDT
Tarantula Blamed for Death Valley Crash
Tne NPS said this tarantula was seen elsewhere in the park on the day of the crash.   (National Park Service)

A Swiss couple who apparently didn't have an "I Brake for Tarantulas" bumper sticker on their rented camper van were involved in a crash in Death Valley National Park, authorities say. In a Facebook post, the National Park Service said the Swiss tourists braked suddenly to avoid hitting a tarantula crossing CA-190 east of Towne Pass on Saturday. The camper van was hit from behind by a 24-year-old motorcyclist from Canada. He was taken to a hospital in nearby Pahrump while the "spider walked away unscathed," the NPS said.

The state highway is in a remote section of the park in California's Inyo County, the BBC reports. "Please drive slowly, especially going down steep hills in the park," said Superintendent Mike Reynolds, the first NPS employee to reach the scene. "Our roads still have gravel patches due to flood damage, and wildlife of all sizes are out."

The NPS said that tarantulas, which spend most of their lives in underground burrows, are not aggressive and that their bite is not deadly to humans. "People see them most often in the fall, when 8- to 10-year-old male tarantulas leave their burrows to search for a mate,"
the NPS said. "The female sometimes kills and eats him after mating. Even if she doesn't kill him, the male tarantula rarely lives more than a few more months. However, female tarantulas can live for 25 years, mating multiple times." (More tarantula stories.)

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