"Dust swirls on the dirt roads running through more than 400,000 acres of cactus studded grasslands south of La Junta, Colo. Suddenly, Jessica LaPage spots the reason she's here: A two-toned brown tarantula about the size of an adult's fist, crawling through the scrubby plants

LaPage snaps a photo of it with her cell phone as the hairy clump with eight legs moves toward her. She jumps backward, barely stifling a fearful squeak. Asked if she'd like to hold one she answers, "Absolutely not!"

Tarantulas — hundreds of them — are now on the move in the plains of southeastern Colorado. While it may look like some kind of Fall migration, these large spiders are simply going mobile looking for love.

It's tarantula mating season around here and La Junta, a city of about 7,300 capitalizes on the spiders' season of romance with an annual tarantula festival."

Shanna Lewis reports for KRCC/NPR October 3, 2023. [2]