Boo Hoo...
Posted on 09/25/2021 9:03:54 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
DENVER (AP) — About this time every year, southeastern Colorado towns like La Junta see more visitors looking to glimpse saucer-sized Texas brown tarantulas as they scurry out of their burrows and across fields and roads in search of a mate.
The eight-legged spectacle might not last long: Scientists say climate change, theft and human development are cutting into tarantulas’ population, with fewer emerging year after year.
“It’s a noticeable numbers game,” said Ryan Jones, a research associate at the Denver Museum of Nature of Science. “If you compare pictures, you can tell that there are just fewer males out looking for love.”
If the tarantulas in southeastern Colorado die out, they’ll start a domino effect in the ecosystem, entomologist Maia Holmes said, likely allowing their prey to multiply and the creatures that eat them to starve.
“Once we cross that line we can’t go back,” Holmes said.
The shriveling tarantula population acts as an early indicator that climate change is worsening in Colorado, Holmes and Jones said. Indeed, Holmes said, the largest single factor for fewer tarantulas is climate change because warming temperatures and less rainfall make for a less hospitable environment.
Studies suggest arachnids are particularly susceptible to changing temperatures and weather patterns, which could also cause different species to grow larger or even become more aggressive, according to Sérgio Henriques, co-chair of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Spider and Scorpion Specialist Group.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
Bonus!
Good to know the Ass Press have their priorities straight. Must be a slow day knowing they dont have Trump to target..
Aha!
8 legs!
B-52 pilots.
Solved two problems at once!
You’re welcome.
Through the use of old fashioned techniques of observation, you’ll notice oscillation over time in every species from grasshoppers to grizzly bears.
The name of the discipline is ecology.
“Scientists say climate change, theft and human development are cutting into tarantulas’ population”
GOOD! No matter the reason.
maybe there are fewer males out because the females eat them.
Now, who knew that was a job?!
Years ago the problem was that global warming was causing the Tarantulas to move north into Colorado.
Now the problem is the Tarantulas are leaving.
The main thing is to always keep the populace scared of something, anything.
...because warming temperatures and less rainfall make for a less hospitable environment.
Wow, what nonsense.
Possible causes of the loss of Texas Brown Tarantulas in Colorado Warming temperatures ✓ ✓ Cooling temperatures ✓ ✓ More rainfall Less rainfall
Possible causes of the increase of Texas Brown Tarantulas in Colorado Warming temperatures ✓ ✓ Cooling temperatures ✓ ✓ More rainfall Less rainfall
Good!
There is. List online somewhere of like 500 plus things blamed on cli ate change, and the list is growing. Just like how everything these days is ‘racists, so,too, every normal event in life is blamed on climate change.
The earth went through a long period where co2 was well over 1000 ppm, and life survived it just fine, but now everyone is panicking over it being a little over 400 ppm? All the species we have today flourished when the earth had over 1000 ppm, obviously,
The planet cools, tne planet gets hot- its waht planets do
Hey, maybe the problem is they are Texas tarantulas and are simply returning home?
Oh, and another thing. “Less Tarantulas are being seen this year.”
In Colorado the same thing happens with Hummingbirds over and over. We have years with many Hummingbirds, and years with noticeably less.
We’ve seen the same with Robins.
One year is meaningless.
:^) If some metrosexual fusion cuisine chefs in Denver had figured out how to serve them as a dish, the entire 'culture' in Colorado would be spinning out about this. :^)
Boo Hoo...
We MUST NOT allow a Tarantula gap!!
OK, lousy slogan...
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