Turtles and Tarantulas

This past Saturday, September 8th, 2007, I had the good fortune to be driving on Arroyo Seco Road at about 8am... when sunlight is still enriched in morning spectra. Even though I was a bit late for my destination, I had to stop and shoo a Tarantula (Aphonopelma spp.) off the road. It's Fall and they start that bad "out on the road" action, just like the mule deer. Ever since I heard about the one at the San Diego Natural History Museum that lived to be 30 years in captivity, I have a hard time with seeing them squashed on the asphalt.

Later I also spotted Western Pond Turtles (I prefer the name Pacific Pond Turtle) Clemmys marmorata which is both a Federal and a California Species of Special Concern. They also live a long time... 40 years. Flicker Photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kibak/1358860592/


I gave up trying to upload a six second clip of the tarantula to YouTube, so here it is on Google Videos instead video.google.com/Henrik_Kibak_Tarantula

The quality really degrades on these sites, but you get the idea...