Tarantula Causes Crash In Death Valley: Authorities

DEATH VALLEY, CA — Visitors driving through Death Valley National Park braked suddenly to avoid injuring a tarantula, causing a crash that sent a motorcyclist to the hospital, according to authorities.

The travelers from Switzerland stopped their rented camper van as the spider crossed State Route 190 east of Towne Pass on Saturday, authorities said, resulting in a 24-year-old Canadian motorcyclist striking the back of their vehicle.

“The spider walked away unscathed,” according to a news release from the National Park Service.

The motorcyclist was taken to Desert View Hospital in Pahrump, authorities said.

“Please drive slowly, especially going down steep hills in the park,” Superintendent Mike Reynolds, who was the first park service employee on scene, said in the news release. “Our roads still have gravel patches due to flood damage, and wildlife of all sizes are out.”

Tarantulas spend most of their lives in underground burrows, but are most likely to be seen in the fall, when 8- to 10-year-old males go searching for a mate, according to the agency. The female sometimes kills and eats the male after mating, authorities said, adding female tarantulas can live for 25 years, mating multiple times.

Tarantulas are slow-moving and are not aggressive, according to the agency, which noted that a tarantula’s bite is similar to a bee sting and is not deadly to humans.