DEATH VALLEY, Calif. (KTNV) — Death Valley National Park officials said travelers tried to avoid hitting a tarantula, ultimately causing an accident Saturday afternoon.
Park officials said a Switzerland couple traveling with a rented camper van braked suddenly on CA-190 to avoid hitting a tarantula in Death Valley National Park. A 24-year-old Canadian man crashed into the back of the camper van.
According to a media release, a National Park Service ambulance transported the motorcyclist to Desert View Hospital in Pahrump.
Officials said the spider walked away unscathed.
“Please drive slowly, especially going down steep hills in the park,” said Superintendent Mike Reynolds, who was the first NPS employee on scene at the accident. “Our roads still have gravel patches due to flood damage, and wildlife of all sizes are out.”
More information provided by Death Valley National Park officials:
Tarantulas spend most of their long lives in underground burrows. 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 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.
Tarantulas are slow moving and nonaggressive. A tarantula’s bite is reported to be similar to a bee sting, and is not deadly to humans.
