“Beautiful spider” might be an oxymoron to a lot of us but the Brazilian jewel tarantula has captured hearts on Twitter and become a popular pet over the years!
I can admit, as spiders go, the Brazilian jewel tarantula (or typhochlaena seladonia) is one of the prettier arachnids out there, with its fuzzy pink and iridescent blue legs.
The colourful Typhochlaena can be found in the Atlantic Rainforest in Bahia and Sergipe, Brazil. It might be reasonable to assume that camouflage would not be a strong suit for this particular creature but that assumption would be false!
The Brazilian jewel is unique as an arboreal spider with the ability to construct trapdoors on trees, scratching away at the lichen on the bark just to silk it back together to form a door.
Like most tarantulas, the jewel is not an active hunter so once in position, it simply waits for its unknowing prey to walk past its secret treehouse.
Typhochlaena seladonia need the Atlantic Rainforest or they will go extinct as soon as all other endemic wildlife from this biome.
Within one year, the Atlantic Rainforest lost over 71,000 acres, devastating news for this tarantula and other flora and fauna from this region.
If you’ve fallen in love with this spider, you should probably choose to protect it rather than rush to get your hands on a new pet.
So, make the responsible choice and admire the Brazilian jewel tarantula from afar – or run screaming if you’re like me and even pretty colours can’t abate your arachnid fears!
