Peacock tarantula
The peacock tarantula is a big, hairy spider that is bright sapphire blue. It has a fancy pattern on its body, and it lives high up in holes in tall trees. It is very rare and lives in only one small forest in India.
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Fun facts
It is the only blue spider in its whole spider group.
Its blue does not come from paint-like colour. Tiny structures in its hairs bounce the light back as blue.
Young ones are not very blue. They turn blue as they grow up.
Females can live 11 or 12 years, sometimes even 15. Males live only 3 or 4 years.
Most asked questions about Peacock tarantula
?How big is a peacock tarantula?
With its legs spread out, it is about 15 to 20 centimetres across, as big as a grown-up's hand.
?Why is the peacock tarantula endangered?
It lives in only one small forest, and people are cutting down the trees there.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Poecilotheria metallica
- Named by
- Pocock, 1899
- Group
- Spiders
- Family
- Theraphosidae
- Classification
- Arachnida > Araneae > Theraphosidae
- Lives on
- Asia
- Also known as
- Gooty sapphire tarantula, Metallic tarantula, Peacock parachute spider, Gooty tarantula
Where the facts come from
- Poecilotheria metallica (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Morkelsker. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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