Gross out?ZOOLOGIST (animal expert) Scott Petersen at the Serpentarium ser·pen·tar·i·um n. pl. ser·pen·tar·i·ums or ser·pen·tar·i·a A place where snakes are kept for study or display. and Reptile Zoo in Goldbar, Washington, will try anything to cure people of arachnophobia arachnophobia /arach·no·pho·bia/ (ah-rak?no-fo´be-ah) irrational fear of spiders. a·rach·no·pho·bi·a or a·rach·ne·pho·bi·a n. An abnormal fear of spiders. (fear of spiders)--even letting a Brazilian black tarantula crawl across his face. "Unlike in the movies, spiders don't chase people," says the former high school biology teacher. "They're afraid of us." But aren't tarantulas venomous venomous secreting poison; poisonous. ? "If spiders don't feel threatened, they don't bite," says Petersen. While a toxic tarantula tarantula (tərăn`chələ), name applied chiefly to several species of the large, hairy spiders of the families Theraphosidae and Dipluridae of North and South America. The body of a tarantula may be as much as 3 in. (7. bite can lead to symptoms such as fever, aches, and vomiting, death is highly unlikely. Provoked tarantulas may use hind legs to flick tiny barbed hairs from their abdomen at attackers, causing some to develop skin and respiratory-tract irritation. "Basically, if you don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. spiders, don't touch them with your bare hands," says Petersen. Another reason to leave eight-legged crawlers alone: "Spiders are important to us ecologically," Peterson says. They consume insects, including crop-destroyers. |
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