Well I must say that this is something that I was not expecting at all. If you drop a tarantula it will explode and shatter. It hardly at all seems plausible that an animal that appears so soft and furry could be so delicate, but it is. So exactly what is it about this spider that makes it so delicate and fragile?
Tarantula’s hardly need an introduction. They are extremely large, hairy and venomous spiders. Of the over 900 species that span almost the entire globe, only a handful are dangerous. But that doesn’t mean that they aren’t fearsome. Some of the larger spiders can kill and consume animals such as birds, mice and small lizards. But despite this fearsome attitude, and ability to fight well above their weight, they have one huge Achilles heel. Their extremely fragile body.
For a predatory animal, they sure scary looking, and posses some cool features to dominate our nightmares. They can be huge, venomous, hairy, have the ability to spin webs, and can breed in their thousands. But their downfall is their ver very thing that should protect them. Their exoskeleton.
An exoskeleton is an external skeleton that supports and protects the body of the animal. While normally tough enough to protect against minor infractions, the tarantula exoskeleton can be described as delicate antique china, or even possibly sugar glass. It’s so fragile that if you drop a tarantula even a small distance, it will explode or shatter. In fact, it takes only a fall of a few inches to cause serious damage to the spider. Such a small fall can rupture their abdomen with relative ease, or even possibly completely shatter their entire exoskeleton.
What happens to the spider when this happens? Well the job of the exoskeleton is to support and protect the animals body and vital organs. When it shtters, there is nothing left to provide that support and protection, and the tarantula will surely die.
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