Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Rick Schwartz.
Speaker 2: But 's see this world. I'm Marco Wentz.
Speaker 1: Welcome to Amazing Wildlife, where we explore unique stories of
Speaker 1: wildlife from around the world and uncover fascinating animal facts.
Speaker 1: This podcast is a production of iHeartRadio's Ruby Studio and
Speaker 1: San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, an international nonprofit conservation organization
Speaker 1: which oversees the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park.
Speaker 3: So, you know, Rick, we wrapped up our last episode
Speaker 3: teasing out today's topic, and I know it might make
Speaker 3: some people a little uncomfortable, right to have a whole
Speaker 3: episode dedicated to spiders.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, I agree, and dear listener, please hang in
Speaker 1: there and listen to the full episode. I know there
Speaker 1: are plenty of people who like, appreciate, or at the
Speaker 1: very least tolerate spiders, but I am also aware there
Speaker 1: are plenty of people who do not like them at all,
Speaker 1: and some who have a physical, actual physical reaction to
Speaker 1: spiders due to a phobia. In fact, when I was
Speaker 1: looking into it, a rachnophobia is listed as the most
Speaker 1: common phobia, affecting four to fifteen percent of the population.
Speaker 3: Wow, I didn't know that, but you know, I guess
Speaker 3: it's important that we preface this episode with letting everyone
Speaker 3: know that we're not planning on doing anything you know, creepy,
Speaker 3: we're scary, right or unsettling.
Speaker 2: We just want to take the time to get to
Speaker 2: know more about.
Speaker 3: These really cool animals and hopefully shatter any myths or misconceptions.
Speaker 1: Exactly we need to learn more, like do we even
Speaker 1: need spiders here on planet Earth? Or why do some
Speaker 1: spiders make webs in dark corners while theres make them
Speaker 1: right the way where we walk? Oh?
Speaker 3: Yeah, right, I mean it's never fun walking into a
Speaker 3: spider web.
Speaker 2: Spider web dance, spider dance.
Speaker 3: You know, I'd like to know if there's any truth
Speaker 3: to the power of the venom right of certain species,
Speaker 3: and oh is it dangerous to humans?
Speaker 2: Or why does a spider even need venom? You know?
Speaker 2: There's so much more now.
Speaker 1: And speaking of more, do you know how many different
Speaker 1: species of spider there are? Oh?
Speaker 2: No, I don't even know how to guess that number.
Speaker 2: I would totally be wrong.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you and me both. I don't know either. But
Speaker 1: the good news is we can find out because we
Speaker 1: are fortunate enough to have some of the best of
Speaker 1: the best at the San Diego Zoo. When it comes
Speaker 1: to entomology, which is the study of insects in the
Speaker 1: relationship with the environment, humans and other organisms in the ecosystem.
Speaker 3: Oh, I know, and they are over at Wildlife Explorer's
Speaker 3: Base Camp at the San Diego Zoo. If our listeners
Speaker 3: want to really be immersed in the fascinating world of entomology,
Speaker 3: they must visit the Spineless Marvels Building at base Camp.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, I completely agree, Marko. And no matter how
Speaker 1: you feel about insects, bugs and spiders, the Spineless Marvels
Speaker 1: Building allows you to explore the diversity of animals you
Speaker 1: normally wouldn't see, and maybe some of you wouldn't want
Speaker 1: to see. But when you get to learn more about something,
Speaker 1: you tend to understand it better. And when you do that,
Speaker 1: the fear tends to become less powerful.
Speaker 2: Oh, I personally love spider. I know, right?
Speaker 3: And when Rick, you know the word in Spanish for
Speaker 3: a spider, it's a lot of fun. It's a rangya, right,
Speaker 3: isn't that cool? So kids, roll your and oh, you're
Speaker 3: absolutely right. We should head over to Wildlife Explorer's Base
Speaker 3: Camp to learn more about the misunderstood and sometimes unappreciated spider.
Speaker 1: It's true. You know, you said you love spiders. I
Speaker 1: guess it'd be fair to say spiders don't bug you. Okay,
Speaker 1: all kidding aside, let's do this. We have questions. En
Speaker 1: Oer Entomology Department has answers.
Speaker 3: All right, let's go to the San diego Zo Bays camp.
Speaker 2: Here we come.
Speaker 4: I am Taylor Cook. I am the Wildlifecare supervisor for
Speaker 4: the Entomology Department.
Speaker 1: Taylor, thank you so much for taking time. I want
Speaker 1: to let our audience know we are sitting in your office.
Speaker 1: We are not that far away from where everyone could
Speaker 1: come and see a wide variety of spineless marvels as
Speaker 1: a building said.
Speaker 3: Nice.
Speaker 1: But we are here to learn about a particular animal
Speaker 1: group or species, several species.
Speaker 2: That a lot of people seem to have.
Speaker 1: A fear of.
Speaker 2: But I'm not going to think of maybe the he
Speaker 2: be gb.
Speaker 1: Gbs to put it scientific.
Speaker 2: I mean right, I'm very scientific symptimes.
Speaker 3: I've made a joke prior because my husband, Kobe, he
Speaker 3: also works at the organization. He doesn't have a little
Speaker 3: bit of a fear, let's say, of spiders, you know,
Speaker 3: but that's the thing we want to talk about today,
Speaker 3: you know, because we work with amazing wildlife, from pandas
Speaker 3: to hornbills, but people often forget to the diversity of
Speaker 3: insects in the world.
Speaker 2: I mean it's incredible.
Speaker 3: I mean, isn't a fact that there are more beetles
Speaker 3: in the world than there are same mammals, you know,
Speaker 3: on their entire planet.
Speaker 2: That's crazy, right.
Speaker 3: So I mean speak a little about that. What do
Speaker 3: you guys do here? What's the official name, let's say,
Speaker 3: of this area here.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so we're currently at the Invertebrate Propagation Center, and
Speaker 4: so the key there is invertebrate because there's so many
Speaker 4: animals that are considered invertebrates. Yeah, insects or what you
Speaker 4: know of that have you know, six legs, three segments,
Speaker 4: and then we also have a rap nudes that have
Speaker 4: more like two segments and eight legs.
Speaker 1: Okay, to separate for anyone losening who may not know, invertebrate.
Speaker 2: Me thank you.
Speaker 4: Invertebrate means that they do not we have bones like
Speaker 4: we do. They have exoskeletons, so they have to go
Speaker 4: through a molting process to get much bigger. It's very
Speaker 4: different than our bones. That grow from the inside, so
Speaker 4: they don't have vertebrae I think of the backbone, so
Speaker 4: they are in as and they do not have that,
Speaker 4: So it's a little different.
Speaker 1: So for kids who are listening, you can feel on
Speaker 1: your arm that you have muscles around the bone of
Speaker 1: your arm. Whereas our friends were talking about today, if
Speaker 1: you're to touch in their heart on the outside, that's
Speaker 1: their skeletal structure based on the outside, and all their
Speaker 1: muscles and organs and everything else are on the inside.
Speaker 1: So it's kind of a cool comparison. And to what
Speaker 1: Marko was saying earlier about this fear or dislike of spiders,
Speaker 1: I would love to spend some time with you debunking that.
Speaker 1: Letting our audio not debunking it, I mean, because I
Speaker 1: think somebody's fear is legitimate to them. But I also
Speaker 1: know the more we learn about things, we can get
Speaker 1: past some of the things we fear, or at least
Speaker 1: have a healthy respect for, right exactly a little bit,
Speaker 1: first and foremost, why do you think a rachnophobia or
Speaker 1: fear of spiders is a thing?
Speaker 4: You know, spiders and ratnas in general, they end up
Speaker 4: in the corner of your room and they're just kind
Speaker 4: of sitting there. You don't know what's going on. You
Speaker 4: just see a lot of leggs, and I think.
Speaker 5: A lot of legs.
Speaker 4: The legs is what I believe is kind of what
Speaker 4: turns people away from them.
Speaker 5: And you know, some of them tend to be a
Speaker 5: darker color.
Speaker 4: And again they're just in the corner of the room
Speaker 4: with cobwebs everywhere. And you know, we hear about how
Speaker 4: they're venomous they're going to bite you, but anything with
Speaker 4: them out can bite.
Speaker 3: And we were just talking with Nikki right about the
Speaker 3: job pressure of general. But it's a good point that
Speaker 3: you're saying too, because I mean, we're mammals and we
Speaker 3: have this tendency when we see something big and fuzzy
Speaker 3: with big ears and big eyes, it's really easy to
Speaker 3: connect with, right And you guys know, being a bird guy, like,
Speaker 3: it's always been a passion of mind to try to
Speaker 3: get people just as excited for the non mammals out there.
Speaker 2: So I would imagine it's the same thing, Oh yeah
Speaker 2: with a spider, right, yeah.
Speaker 4: So in my case, I grew up love spiders just
Speaker 4: because I loved animals. So the closest animal I can
Speaker 4: get to were the spiders in my home. And luckily,
Speaker 4: my mom she always loves spiders and tranchllas. Growing up,
Speaker 4: she'd tell me she's from San Diego and that's where
Speaker 4: I am too, and she'd go out and catch translas
Speaker 4: in her backyard and play with trapdoor spiders by tapping
Speaker 4: in front of them, and so I just wanted to
Speaker 4: be like my.
Speaker 5: Mom, so I do the same thing.
Speaker 4: So I'd collect the spiders in the house and I
Speaker 4: would go outside all the time look for traandlas, and
Speaker 4: sadly I never really saw them, and that's a whole
Speaker 4: issue with habitat loss as well. But so I luckily
Speaker 4: grew up in an environment where spiders were very welcomed. However,
Speaker 4: my friends did not have their response, and they would
Speaker 4: crush them, and I'd be very sad. So I do
Speaker 4: think it does have to do with perspective, people having
Speaker 4: fear of the venom, fear of you know, them crawling
Speaker 4: on you with all the legs. But honestly, spiders do
Speaker 4: not like us right now.
Speaker 5: And they're sensitive.
Speaker 4: If they touch something they don't like, they're a little
Speaker 4: diva and they just go, I don't want that if
Speaker 4: it's on you. They're really just in one place to
Speaker 4: the next and hoping you don't notice them. So I
Speaker 4: think that's why, you know, people don't really like them,
Speaker 4: because they're word it's gonna crawl.
Speaker 1: On them, they get off. Yeah, And I think it's
Speaker 1: another part too, is a learned fear. We see it
Speaker 1: in movies and TV shows. I mean, I'm old enough
Speaker 1: to remember The Brady Bunch and one of there was
Speaker 1: a big episode about this talisman that was cursed and
Speaker 1: that the curse was this giant spider would it was
Speaker 1: a translate, right, And like there was a whole like
Speaker 1: back to back two episodes special with the It's horrible Wow,
Speaker 1: and then of course the racnophobia the movie, and then
Speaker 1: just it's perpetuated throughout all of our scary movies in general.
Speaker 1: And I think, like you mentioned, yes, the legs, you know,
Speaker 1: and they're in the corners. They prefer the dark spots
Speaker 1: because that's where their food's gonna usually end up, where
Speaker 1: they can catch it. But yeah, they're so fascinating, and
Speaker 1: I think there's an opportunity that when so you grew
Speaker 1: up with the exposure of they're cool and they're interesting,
Speaker 1: other people grow up with someone who thinks, Eh, they're
Speaker 1: gross and they want to squish them, right, But if
Speaker 1: we can take the time to watch them, observe them,
Speaker 1: respect them, or realize they're not there to hurt us, because,
Speaker 1: like you said, we're giant mammals.
Speaker 2: I mean, could you.
Speaker 1: Imagine the scale difference if we as humans saw another
Speaker 1: living creature as big in comparison as we are to spiders, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, we'd be terrified. So there's a matter of
Speaker 1: opportunity of also getting some perspective like, yeah, they're in
Speaker 1: the corner and they might have multiple eyes and creep
Speaker 1: you out, but realistically you're huge compared to them, so
Speaker 1: they'd rather you just leave them alone so they can
Speaker 1: have their snack.
Speaker 3: And that's why I love this episode too, I mean,
Speaker 3: just so we can showcase the other aspects of wildlife
Speaker 3: with spiders.
Speaker 2: I mean, luckily I grew up with Spider Man.
Speaker 3: So if that's where it started with, absolutely love that
Speaker 3: whole story.
Speaker 2: And that's what my passion for spiders was.
Speaker 3: And like you, I'm a native Sandy Agan and I
Speaker 3: remember being a kid and seeing our native tarantelas all about.
Speaker 3: But every year, less and less and less of them
Speaker 3: can you speak a little bit about what are some
Speaker 3: of the obstacles that spider species are facing, not only
Speaker 3: locally but in other parts of the world.
Speaker 4: So habitat loss impacts a lot of species, and especially
Speaker 4: in San Diego other parts of California, that's been a
Speaker 4: big impact. So I grew up on the canyon, there's
Speaker 4: been tons of development, so we're just seeing less and less,
Speaker 4: both spiders translas, also frogs. I used to grow up
Speaker 4: with frogs everywhere, and I don't see them anymore. But
Speaker 4: besides habitat loss and pesticide use is also really big.
Speaker 4: A lot of translas around the world are impacted by
Speaker 4: wildlife trafficking, So I know when I learned about wildlife
Speaker 4: trafficking is usually mammals people employing tigers, but translas are
Speaker 4: heavily collected illegally and especially really endangered species as well,
Speaker 4: and that is decimating their populations.
Speaker 1: Is that for the pet trade or is there other things?
Speaker 1: Like some species they're collected for theoretical medicinal purposes. People
Speaker 1: think there's something medicinal about body parts or whatever. What
Speaker 1: is the draw for people to try and do this
Speaker 1: with tarantulas?
Speaker 4: Yeah, primarily for translas it is for the pet trade,
Speaker 4: so a lot of people do want to collect the coolest,
Speaker 4: newest rarest thing, and a lot of those from South America.
Speaker 4: It's usually where they collect a lot of those arachnids,
Speaker 4: but also can spread into Asia as well. But yeah,
Speaker 4: it's mainly for the pet trade. So wild caught ones,
Speaker 4: you know that a lot of them are not legally
Speaker 4: able to come into the United States or being sold
Speaker 4: as pets. There are lots of people who legally breed
Speaker 4: them in captivity and translis do make great pets, but
Speaker 4: there are certain species that again do make those wonderful
Speaker 4: pets and are legally and ethically bred for that purpose,
Speaker 4: not collected from their native habitas.
Speaker 3: Right before the interview, we're just talking. I actually have
Speaker 3: a curly head trains.
Speaker 2: Her name is Tara.
Speaker 3: I love her so much and she's got great personality.
Speaker 3: But to your point, and especially all the kids listening
Speaker 3: right now, like I just got back from a trip
Speaker 3: place in Mexico called Tlahomulco, and they have a big
Speaker 3: issue with wildlife trafficking as well native species, crocodiles and.
Speaker 2: Insects as well.
Speaker 3: I tell these kids in the area, you know you
Speaker 3: have the power right every day with your dollar that
Speaker 3: you buy, we're communicating to these people whether we want
Speaker 3: to support something or not. And when I acquired Tara
Speaker 3: to be part of our family, and we did the
Speaker 3: research to make sure that this wasn't a traffic animal.
Speaker 3: Could you give a little tips and little advice Maybe
Speaker 3: kids out there who are thinking of you know, maybe
Speaker 3: I do want to try to Ranta like something to
Speaker 3: think about in that regard.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and how would they find out if it's that
Speaker 1: we thank you raised and source? You know, what is
Speaker 1: the research someone should do? And maybe a kid could
Speaker 1: ask their parent to help them.
Speaker 4: Right, So you can always ask where you're purchasing your
Speaker 4: transla from. You know, where did this come from? If
Speaker 4: they said, oh, we got this straight from Brazil, you
Speaker 4: might want to start questioning that. And you can easily research,
Speaker 4: you know, what is allowed in California. US Fish and
Speaker 4: Wildlife will have information about the species that are allowed
Speaker 4: here and recommendations as well. So there's a little bit
Speaker 4: of your own research you should probably do because there's
Speaker 4: lots of species we can keep and lots that we cannot.
Speaker 4: So if you're interested in you know, curly hairs or
Speaker 4: Pinto's just making sure that you look up if that's allowed,
Speaker 4: and usually what the history of the reader is. So
Speaker 4: if they've been doing generations of that transla, they're probably
Speaker 4: in good hands. But if it's something new and exciting,
Speaker 4: that's where the red flags.
Speaker 3: Right, ask the question right where dig a little.
Speaker 5: Bit right, it's too good to be true?
Speaker 4: If that's too good to be true, like wow, this
Speaker 4: is so rare and special, really expensive, and things like that's.
Speaker 1: Maybe not And I want to encourage too the other
Speaker 1: side of the research. Once you've found out if it
Speaker 1: is through a breeder with multiple generations, also do a
Speaker 1: lot of work and research on what this animal needs.
Speaker 1: Sometimes we just think, oh, I'll bring it home and
Speaker 1: I'll love it and it'll be fine. But certain species, regardless,
Speaker 1: they need a drier condition than maybe than where you live,
Speaker 1: or a damper condition than where you live. So you
Speaker 1: have to be able to create a responsible environment for
Speaker 1: them to make sure that they have everything they need,
Speaker 1: and you can provide that. It's not just as simple
Speaker 1: bring it home and put it in an aquarium exactly.
Speaker 3: And also you know, having a torrenso I don't know
Speaker 3: what you think, but it's not the same thing as
Speaker 3: maybe having a dog, you know, or having a cat.
Speaker 2: So I mean, do your research.
Speaker 3: I mean I loved hair, but I don't really handle her,
Speaker 3: you know, give her the environment she needs, and it's
Speaker 3: great just to watch with their natural behaviors. Actually, I
Speaker 3: wanted to go back a little bit. Can you talk
Speaker 3: about like what makes a tarantula taransula? Like why are
Speaker 3: they different than other spiders?
Speaker 4: You know, yeah, so are rappids you have, you know,
Speaker 4: your spiders, your scorpions, mites, and ticks are even in that.
Speaker 4: Once you start to break down that class, you also
Speaker 4: start to have spiders, and within spiders you have your
Speaker 4: tree spiders, and then you also have translas. So I
Speaker 4: would say all tarantulas are spiders, but not all spiders
Speaker 4: are trantulas, right, and so they still both have eight legs,
Speaker 4: but with translas they're pretty hairy. They're very big as well.
Speaker 4: And also translas the females can live up to twenty
Speaker 4: five years, so they're very long lived, but then spiders
Speaker 4: maybe one to two years. And they do take on
Speaker 4: different roles, but primarily the biggest difference is their size,
Speaker 4: the role that they play, and then also a lot
Speaker 4: of hair on the translas. Spiders have hairs too, but
Speaker 4: much finer and.
Speaker 3: A little different I would imagine, more terrestrial than other spiders.
Speaker 3: Or are there some that actually a little more boreal there?
Speaker 4: Yeah, there are boreal translas, but most of the ones
Speaker 4: I'm familiar with they burrow as well, and you're going
Speaker 4: to find there's trap door spiders that hang up underground.
Speaker 4: But most of the spiders you see are not going
Speaker 4: to be living underground quite as much as translas are.
Speaker 4: But yes, there are our boreal translas as well, and
Speaker 4: they do their web being much differently than spiders as well.
Speaker 3: Actually, can you highlight a little bit of that, you know,
Speaker 3: because the hairs are for a reason, right, for maybe
Speaker 3: defense as well.
Speaker 4: Yeah, So some of our New World tranchlas, so New
Speaker 4: worlds come the Western hemisphere. So a lot of the
Speaker 4: Americas New World translas have they're called irritating hairs, okay,
Speaker 4: and they use that as a defense mechanism. They can
Speaker 4: kick those hairs and it's pretty irritable. It's going to
Speaker 4: make your skin itch. If it gets into your airways,
Speaker 4: you're going to start coughing. You do not want to
Speaker 4: be around a transla kicking its hair, no kidding, So
Speaker 4: that's our first line of defense. And usually they're not
Speaker 4: one to want to bite you if you really got
Speaker 4: to be doing something to provoke that. And their venom
Speaker 4: is not very potent either, So yes, Transella's not in
Speaker 4: the New World at least not super venom is very
Speaker 4: hairy and can have some irritate eating hairs. The other
Speaker 4: thing for tarantulas is they don't have very good eyesight
Speaker 4: and they primarily rely on vibrations, and so having lots
Speaker 4: of hairs is going to help them sense that vibrations.
Speaker 4: So if you're hanging out underground, something crawls near them,
Speaker 4: they can feel that vibrations and then strike from their burrows.
Speaker 2: Oh cool.
Speaker 3: Do they use some of that webbing because Hara will
Speaker 3: put out webbings all around the ground, you know, and
Speaker 3: I figure that's her sensory perception in a way, right,
Speaker 3: feeling out what's going on in the environment.
Speaker 4: Yeah, webbing totally helps with that, and you know, or weavers,
Speaker 4: so kind of going back to spiders will also create
Speaker 4: webs that when prey flies into it, they can sense
Speaker 4: the vibration and then go catch their food from that.
Speaker 4: So spiders are very sensitive to vibrations. That's a really
Speaker 4: wonderful trait that they have.
Speaker 5: So eyesight maybe not so much.
Speaker 4: You know, dragonflies have incredible eyesight for insects, but arachnids
Speaker 4: at least, but the case for spiders and translas, it's
Speaker 4: not as good.
Speaker 1: Even multiple eyes, that's a good point.
Speaker 4: Yeah, most of them can have about eight eyes.
Speaker 2: Might help out, but not necessarily.
Speaker 5: It's decent.
Speaker 4: It usually helps for light receptions, so they're going to
Speaker 4: notice if there's a change in light, change of light
Speaker 4: to dark, then that's going to help them. Since their
Speaker 4: surroundings have a little bit more of that three sixty view,
Speaker 4: so again we're still in the more limited scope. They
Speaker 4: have much wider so they can see things coming from
Speaker 4: behind them by having those multiple eyes.
Speaker 5: Yeah, well like the birds both right totally.
Speaker 3: But I was going to say, like you mentioned New World,
Speaker 3: is there some differences with the Old World like Europe, Asia, Africa.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we've tend to find that the Old World translates
Speaker 4: are not quite as hairy and they don't have their
Speaker 4: ridicating hairs that they kick out, but they do tend
Speaker 4: to be slightly more venomous and very fast.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it would make sense.
Speaker 3: They don't have that same deterrent, right, Yeah, see New
Speaker 3: World translors, right, so.
Speaker 4: They believe that, you know, a lot of the Old
Speaker 4: World translas developed to be faster and more venomous because
Speaker 4: they have a lot more predators out there versus New World.
Speaker 4: They mainly adapted for their own protection, but didn't have
Speaker 4: to worry.
Speaker 3: About those horn bell you other bird species, and I
Speaker 3: like a little spider snack.
Speaker 1: So this episode comes out late October, right before Halloween.
Speaker 1: Of course, big Halloween decorations. People have to put the
Speaker 1: fake webbing out and the giant spiders. It's just part
Speaker 1: of the theme of the fun of Halloween. And honestly,
Speaker 1: this time of year, at least here in San Diego,
Speaker 1: we see the orb weavers really going to town. You
Speaker 1: can walk into your house at night and there's no
Speaker 1: spider webs. You come out first thing in the morning.
Speaker 1: And also you're got a face full you're feeling on
Speaker 1: why do orb weavers make these big webs across the
Speaker 1: spaces we like to walk What is that attraction for them?
Speaker 1: Because clearly we destroy their work.
Speaker 2: We walk through.
Speaker 1: It's annoying to us, but it really has to ruin
Speaker 1: their day, I will.
Speaker 4: And you know, sometimes you're giving them a headstart. There's
Speaker 4: certain orb weavers that will remake their web every.
Speaker 1: Single day, so we are helping.
Speaker 5: Orb weavers.
Speaker 4: They're wonderful predators that catch a lot of our flying
Speaker 4: insects that come through. So or beavers are a really
Speaker 4: good indicator of environmental health. You have a lot of
Speaker 4: orb weavers, I'm they're going to catch tons of other insects.
Speaker 4: They also in some cases can catch birds. Yeah, they
Speaker 4: are helping with that ecosystem balance, which is very important.
Speaker 4: And so they do come out around this time because
Speaker 4: they laid their eggs that were hatching due to the
Speaker 4: warm weather and now they're moltinge they're getting bigger and bigger,
Speaker 4: and now everything else is also grown at this point
Speaker 4: and it is their time to shine and collect all
Speaker 4: of that. And they do provide food for other animals
Speaker 4: including birds and reptiles as well. So you'll see lots
Speaker 4: of orb weavers at this time. But do not fear.
Speaker 4: They do have that really sticky web that just never
Speaker 4: feels I can get it off of you. Spider silk,
Speaker 4: so spiders have spinnerets and they can make almost like
Speaker 4: seven different types of spider silk. Wow, and it's all
Speaker 4: for different purposes. In the orb weaver web, you have
Speaker 4: some that anchor it down into these structures again, so
Speaker 4: they can get across your whole pathway.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and then they.
Speaker 4: Have the sticky parts that is going to be there
Speaker 4: to catch through the prey. So the tensile strength of
Speaker 4: some of that webbing is even stronger than steel, So
Speaker 4: it's incredible fiber.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I was going to ask you.
Speaker 3: I've read a research paper ones where people were trying
Speaker 3: to replicate like artificial or synthetic spider web you because
Speaker 3: of how strong your reda is.
Speaker 4: And it's an incredible use that we can have for
Speaker 4: I've been reading it's anti microbial, so it could be
Speaker 4: used for medicinal purposes. But we still don't quite understand
Speaker 4: everything about spider silk or so the recreation of it's
Speaker 4: going to be very challenging because even for the animal itself,
Speaker 4: we're still trying to learn as much as we can
Speaker 4: about it and it's somewhat limited.
Speaker 2: Yeah. No, that's fascinating.
Speaker 3: And you mentioned or weaver spider and I was so
Speaker 3: excited when Wildlife Explorers based camp opened up because so
Speaker 3: many really cool animals, but mainly the Spineless Marvels building
Speaker 3: where if you guess, we haven't visited yet, it's an
Speaker 3: amazing array of different insects from all over the world.
Speaker 2: But you have a really cool orb weaver display as wow. Right,
Speaker 2: can you speak a little bit about that that process.
Speaker 4: So when you visit Spinless Marvels, there's two floors and
Speaker 4: you have the bottom floor which represents the ones that
Speaker 4: tend to live underground. But we do have our golden
Speaker 4: orb weavers there and they do not have any glass
Speaker 4: in front of them.
Speaker 5: It is open air.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 3: People sometimes ask me sometimes like what's going on there?
Speaker 2: Can that spider get out?
Speaker 4: Some people think that they're not real. Oh, they're real,
Speaker 4: but they just like to stay in place. If you
Speaker 4: look at their bodies, they're very bottom heavy and so
Speaker 4: they can't really walk on the ground very well. They're
Speaker 4: made to keep up in that web, keep their face
Speaker 4: down and sense those vibrations, so they don't really have
Speaker 4: an interest in going anywhere else but their web. And
Speaker 4: we provide food for them daily for them to get
Speaker 4: the nutrition they need, and it's a wonderful view for
Speaker 4: people to see.
Speaker 1: It is really cool.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we love it.
Speaker 4: It is a little bit to break that fear though,
Speaker 4: you know, thinking about one of the animals that we
Speaker 4: have here. Everything else is behind glass, but the one
Speaker 4: that we don't need to is a spider. Yeah, so
Speaker 4: it's one of our safest ones there that I want to.
Speaker 1: Lean into that a little further too, because although we
Speaker 1: see orb weavers outside and we're talking about translos also outside,
Speaker 1: but inside our homes we some times, especially if things
Speaker 1: cool down, spiders tend to be seen a bit more
Speaker 1: inside the home. Not orb weavers, though. There tend to
Speaker 1: be the jumping spiders, a little spiders, or you know,
Speaker 1: a wide variety of other species. And I know most
Speaker 1: people prefer not to look at them. They don't want
Speaker 1: to know that they're so they're they're going to catch
Speaker 1: them up and throw them outside, or they're going to
Speaker 1: squish them. My personal knowledge about how predators work, and
Speaker 1: spiders are predatory species. They aren't going to be there
Speaker 1: if there isn't a food source. And so if you
Speaker 1: see them, that means there's other bugs in your house
Speaker 1: you probably don't want.
Speaker 2: Yes, they're eating.
Speaker 1: Can you tell us a bit more about some of
Speaker 1: the species we might find in our house?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I have a issue with fruit flies all the time,
Speaker 4: and drain flies, and I adore those jumping spiders that
Speaker 4: come in and you will see in the corners these
Speaker 4: you know, wrapped up little tiny flies, and that's usually
Speaker 4: from our jumping spiders.
Speaker 5: So yeah, if you have fruit flies.
Speaker 4: Even they're called house flies as well drain flies, so
Speaker 4: tons of different flies. But even earwigs can.
Speaker 5: Make it into your house sometimes. Yeah, and we may
Speaker 5: not like it.
Speaker 4: But also cockroaches and your spiders are going to be
Speaker 4: the ones to handle those cockroaches that come through.
Speaker 2: I tend to name mine sometimes thank you I see them. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2: I appreciate the good work that you're doing.
Speaker 1: My daughter will call it dad. There's a spider in
Speaker 1: the tub, like, what's its name?
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, because if.
Speaker 1: You can name it now, it's a friend. You know,
Speaker 1: they're there for a reason. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Made me think, actually, if you can speak to this,
Speaker 3: it'd be great, because I hear it all the time,
Speaker 3: the myth of the daddy long legs. You know, you
Speaker 3: hear that, you know, really their bite is so venomous
Speaker 3: and lethal, but they don't have their fangs as long.
Speaker 2: You have to really penetrate the human skin.
Speaker 1: I hear.
Speaker 2: I don't know why I hear that myth so many
Speaker 2: different times growing up here. Can you just.
Speaker 3: Light straight for us the truth? What is really going
Speaker 3: on with that?
Speaker 5: I have heard that too, Honestly.
Speaker 4: Spider venom across the board is not as lethal as
Speaker 4: people think it is, and that is still the case
Speaker 4: for this one as well.
Speaker 5: In fact, one of the most venomous.
Speaker 4: Spiders is the black widow spider, and for that as well,
Speaker 4: if they were to buy us, you can have a
Speaker 4: medical concern, but rarely.
Speaker 2: Is that the case.
Speaker 1: Usually if you have an allergic type of use.
Speaker 2: Just going to say or something.
Speaker 4: So, I think it's true that you know they're probably
Speaker 4: not going to be able to be bit by one,
Speaker 4: but the venom case, that is not true.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, exactly right.
Speaker 3: It speaks to what would you say to a kid
Speaker 3: if they see a spider, what's your recommendation.
Speaker 4: Yeah, if you see a spider, they do not want
Speaker 4: to touch you, and if they do, they're going to
Speaker 4: run away eventually, at some point they are not going
Speaker 4: to bite you unless provoked, And the best method is
Speaker 4: just the cup and paper. You can designate one in
Speaker 4: your home and cup and paper to move them outside
Speaker 4: if they make you uncomfortable. But sometimes I even use
Speaker 4: a stick, Especially for black widows, you want to be
Speaker 4: careful around them. I love black widows. They are welcome
Speaker 4: in my outside of the house. But if they do
Speaker 4: need to be relocated at all, I usually just take
Speaker 4: a long stick, put some of their web on the
Speaker 4: end of the stick, move the spider elsewhere. They're not
Speaker 4: going to climb up the stick and come running at
Speaker 4: you or anything, And that way you keep a little
Speaker 4: bit of a distance as well. But I do not
Speaker 4: spray or crash them at all.
Speaker 5: You can easily pick them up.
Speaker 4: They will get startled and start to run around your cup,
Speaker 4: and I know that's like, oh my gosh, what's going on.
Speaker 4: They will settle down and once they're outside, it's it's
Speaker 4: totally I.
Speaker 3: Mean, they're a little scared right again, the big mammals
Speaker 3: coming over. I also want to talk because we mentioned
Speaker 3: Wildlife Explorers base camp, but I know the public can't
Speaker 3: see it, but there is an amazing area where we're
Speaker 3: at right now, we're in the area. Can you describe
Speaker 3: to our guests really what's going on back here? We're
Speaker 3: in your office right now, but anyone across the way,
Speaker 3: you got some really incredible space happening.
Speaker 4: So in order to put the spiders out on habitat,
Speaker 4: and we do have the Propagation Center back here where
Speaker 4: we have a room bigger than this office full of
Speaker 4: those golden or weaver spiders and.
Speaker 2: So it's really cool.
Speaker 3: I've been in the once, you guys, and for those
Speaker 3: who love spiders, it's great, But don't imagine maybe for others,
Speaker 3: maybe a different experience better for that than you know.
Speaker 4: I do think it can be a very transformative experience
Speaker 4: for people because it is a beautiful room. It is
Speaker 4: very illuminated with natural light, tons of plants in there
Speaker 4: to help with that humidity. This species of golden or
Speaker 4: weaver is found in Florida, and so they need that
Speaker 4: tropical light with high UV and so sometimes we feed
Speaker 4: them with flies that can go around. But we could
Speaker 4: also throw crickets at their web as well. And I
Speaker 4: do tell people this, which might be a little odd,
Speaker 4: but I'll just sit in the middle of the floor
Speaker 4: and just throw crickets there. It's very peaceful, and then
Speaker 4: one just starts moving one at a time to go
Speaker 4: get to its food and it's a I think that's
Speaker 4: very beautiful experience. But sometimes there's thirty plus spiders in there. Yeah,
Speaker 4: and you look, you see the big females hanging there.
Speaker 4: Those are the big ones. The males are actually really
Speaker 4: tiny and they will be hanging out on the web
Speaker 4: with the females. They don't spin their own web, so
Speaker 4: they let the females do all the work. They just
Speaker 4: kind of hang out, let her eat and then they
Speaker 4: can hopefully mate eventually.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I know, right, Well, it makes me think like
Speaker 3: we're raptors. The females are larger than the males. Is
Speaker 3: that generally the case for most spider species, or the
Speaker 3: females larger.
Speaker 4: Yes, females will be larger for both spiders and tangelas.
Speaker 1: Ah cool, very cool, very cool. Well, I know we've
Speaker 1: got to wrap it up, getting close to time here,
Speaker 1: and I know you've got more to do with your day.
Speaker 1: But there's also one other thing we have to mention.
Speaker 1: It's and I might say it wrong, where the Irakans
Speaker 1: land when they've been confiscated for illegal trade. We don't
Speaker 1: do confiscation, but when the government does and it basically
Speaker 1: intercepts these illegal transports, we are one of the first
Speaker 1: places usually at least on the West coast, it gets
Speaker 1: called to see if we can house. Can you tell
Speaker 1: us a little bit about what our role is San
Speaker 1: Diegoo Wild Left Alliance for taking care of spiders that
Speaker 1: have been illegally taken from the wild and then also
Speaker 1: maybe add why can't we just send them back?
Speaker 4: Yeah, so the San Diego Zoo is home to our
Speaker 4: Irakneed Rescue Center. And so we were talking about those
Speaker 4: confiscated trantelas. Oftentimes US Fish and Wildlife will find them
Speaker 4: being smuggled and they'll smuggle in little tiny spider links,
Speaker 4: so baby transliz.
Speaker 2: Or spy spider links. That's adorable.
Speaker 4: And they will transport them in soda straws. You know,
Speaker 4: it's very unassuming. You just think it, yeah, trash almost,
Speaker 4: but there's little spy in there. And so they'll find
Speaker 4: those and then they all need a place to go.
Speaker 4: So once they confiscate that, they're not going to put
Speaker 4: them in other people's homes. Again, these are illegal species
Speaker 4: to own, and a lot of them are susceptible to disease.
Speaker 4: We've had a case of a Tranchela that came to
Speaker 4: us with only four legs. Yeah, so they're also not
Speaker 4: treated very well in that process, and so we give
Speaker 4: them lots of love and attention here, and that transula
Speaker 4: came in with four legs with enough care has now
Speaker 4: been able to regenerate all eves it can regenerate.
Speaker 2: Else spiders can do that or just depending on the
Speaker 2: species or.
Speaker 4: It does depend And with insects they molt up to
Speaker 4: a certain period of adulthood and then they're done. But
Speaker 4: tranchlas can still keep molting in their adulthood and once
Speaker 4: they do that molting process, they're able to regenerate.
Speaker 3: Yah, I or the oxlotow does it, but I know
Speaker 3: like spiders can do it that well as well.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so we've had some amazing success stories here, but
Speaker 4: we've had.
Speaker 5: Over three hundred come through here.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 4: So it's a lot of Translas spiders that have been
Speaker 4: confiscated that did need a home. So they're here at
Speaker 4: the San Diego Zoo and it's hard to keep all
Speaker 4: three hundred.
Speaker 5: So other easy institutions can help us out with that
Speaker 5: as well.
Speaker 4: But we have learned so much about translas just from
Speaker 4: watching these and also those success stories.
Speaker 5: It sounds so cool.
Speaker 4: Wow, it all you know, went from four legs to
Speaker 4: eight likes. But actually watching that happen is an incredible
Speaker 4: thing to do, and it makes us feel very good
Speaker 4: about it too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, obviously the optimal care is allowed that to be
Speaker 1: an optimal health so it can do that. One question
Speaker 1: I know we sometimes get from people who are like, well, Okay,
Speaker 1: they were confiscated and they're having problems in the wild,
Speaker 1: why can't you just send these guys back into the wild.
Speaker 1: So what's the reasoning behind that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, once they're here, there's also part of an investigation
Speaker 4: that happens. It is a illegal crime, so that needs
Speaker 4: to be investigated. But you cannot send them back because
Speaker 4: they've also just been exposed to who knows what kind
Speaker 4: of disease, and invertebrates in general just have very low
Speaker 4: immune systems. So if you send them back, we don't
Speaker 4: know exactly where they came from, we don't know how
Speaker 4: they're going to survive, and they could spread lots of
Speaker 4: other pathogens to their wild counterparts. So they do have
Speaker 4: to remain with us or another institution throughout their pretty
Speaker 4: long lived lives.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but commitment, thank you for doing.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's great, That's why it's really important to try
Speaker 4: to end that wildlife trafficking because most of the times
Speaker 4: they cannot go back into the wild. So it's not
Speaker 4: as easy as you know, releasing the spider from your
Speaker 4: house back into the Yeah, it's not the same thing.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 4: They're packaged in really weird materials with lots of other specimens.
Speaker 1: Travel halfway around the world. Yeah, Like you said, who
Speaker 1: knows what they've been exposed to and then what they'll
Speaker 1: bring back to their environment if theory put back.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and there's you know, not really a vaccine or
Speaker 4: cure that we can get to help prevent that, so
Speaker 4: we have to monitor them on our own.
Speaker 1: That's so cool.
Speaker 2: That's so cool.
Speaker 1: Well, last question, we'll let you go. If you could
Speaker 1: give any young listener out there listening right now, I'm going, ooh,
Speaker 1: I want to work with the ractids. I want to
Speaker 1: work with invertebrates. What would be your recommendation for that
Speaker 1: young kid to say, are setting their sights on to
Speaker 1: end up in the seat you're sitting right now.
Speaker 4: I mean, observation just does wonders. So head out to
Speaker 4: your backyard and if you see a spider, just watch
Speaker 4: from a pleasant distance, or you can get close. I
Speaker 4: did that a lot. I found many a black widow
Speaker 4: in my backyard wanted to really get a close look
Speaker 4: at that red hourglass. So maybe would not fully recommend
Speaker 4: doing that, but just be safe. But yeah, just watching
Speaker 4: those spiders in your backyards. Honestly, you can put a
Speaker 4: cup over them, watch them crawl around, and then nicely
Speaker 4: let them go afterwards. Learning about them and their behavior
Speaker 4: and just through observation is wonderful and that's going to
Speaker 4: help spark a lot of inspiration. And then you can
Speaker 4: even own a transla if you'd like.
Speaker 5: But keep doing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the commitment. I was going to say, long lived animal.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a very long lived animal. So just knowing
Speaker 4: what you're getting into, and also one that requires you know,
Speaker 4: live food to be fed to it quite often too.
Speaker 4: A lot of people aren't quite comfortable with that. But
Speaker 4: if people are interested in entomology, you know, entomology is
Speaker 4: accessible everywhere, so just keeping your eyes out, reading lots
Speaker 4: of books. I know it's a studious one too, but
Speaker 4: a lot of what entomologists do is keeping up with
Speaker 4: research because things change every year. I would say, you know,
Speaker 4: keep talking about spiders and your interest with them with
Speaker 4: other people, because the more you talk about it, you
Speaker 4: also start to make a name for yourself. You get
Speaker 4: known as the hey, that's the bug lady or girl.
Speaker 4: I was totally that person in school. I used to
Speaker 4: bring spiders I found in my backyard to school, which
Speaker 4: people did not really appreciate it. But it became no
Speaker 4: surprise when I started to pursue entomology, and even here
Speaker 4: at the Zoo, I started driving the double decor tour
Speaker 4: buses for a bit, I told everybody there I love entomology,
Speaker 4: and eventually I was able to make my way here
Speaker 4: at the zoo as well. So just be loud and
Speaker 4: proud about it, keep your eyes feeled, and like.
Speaker 1: You said, entomology in general. As far as education, there's
Speaker 1: many colleges out there too which can pursue learning more.
Speaker 1: And one thing we've talked about on this podcast before
Speaker 1: is follow your passion, and as you do that, you
Speaker 1: might get exposed to things you didn't even know existed
Speaker 1: that you could then have more passionate about and fall
Speaker 1: in love with. So yeah, follow the passion, kids. I
Speaker 1: love the fact that we're sitting here with you. You
Speaker 1: grew up loving spiders so much. And then on the
Speaker 1: other side of everything. I put in a request to
Speaker 1: page your boss, like, hey, when you talk to somebody
Speaker 1: about spiders, and here you are sitting in this office,
Speaker 1: that young little girl who's in the backyard looking at
Speaker 1: spiders is now at one of the leading facilities in America,
Speaker 1: San Diego Zoo, taking care of Oraknin's and other invertebrates.
Speaker 1: I think it's a great story. I really appreciate you
Speaker 1: taking the time down body.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much.
Speaker 5: Yeah, thank you so much. This was wonderful.
Speaker 4: I'm really happy to share this with all of you
Speaker 4: and everybody else listening as well.
Speaker 2: Excellent, appreciate it.
Speaker 5: Don't fear your spiders this Halloween.
Speaker 4: They make great decoration, but they're also great for your
Speaker 4: house and your backyard.
Speaker 1: Right, maybe the Halloween decoration should be looked at us
Speaker 1: a celebration. Yes, how awesome. They are getting rid of
Speaker 1: other books we don't want.
Speaker 5: This is the only time of year I can find
Speaker 5: good spider decor.
Speaker 1: All right, Thanks Taylor, Thank you so much. Marco. I
Speaker 1: love that we get to talk to people who know
Speaker 1: a bunch of stuff about things we don't know nearly
Speaker 1: as much about.
Speaker 2: Oh man, I know what you mean.
Speaker 3: I mean, I love that Taylor's knowledge is rooted in
Speaker 3: her natural passion about spiders.
Speaker 2: When she was a little kid.
Speaker 1: It just goes to show you that when we follow
Speaker 1: our natural curiosity, we can learn so much. And I
Speaker 1: really appreciate that Taylor shared that spiders aren't as big, bad,
Speaker 1: and scary as the movies make them out to be.
Speaker 1: I mean she even said spiders don't want to be
Speaker 1: touched by us and would rather not touch us. I mean, right,
Speaker 1: there goes to show you just how silly some of
Speaker 1: these scary movies are.
Speaker 3: Oh totally friends. I mean, who would have guessed spiders
Speaker 3: had a fear of us? I knew, and I was
Speaker 3: surprised to hear how much spiders are impacted though, you know,
Speaker 3: by the illegal wildlife trade. I mean, yes, I need
Speaker 3: schar Angela's were threatened by this, but I didn't know
Speaker 3: the number of spiders that are impacted and confiscated.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's really interesting you think about it. Spider
Speaker 1: is something that some people would rather avoid and have
Speaker 1: a true phobia. Are also something people want to illegally
Speaker 1: import just because they're unique or unusual. Just another good
Speaker 1: reason to learn more about what's impacting wildlife at all levels,
Speaker 1: and how we can help by not supporting these activities.
Speaker 2: You know, there was something I forgot to ask her.
Speaker 1: Oh what's that?
Speaker 2: No, I wonder if you can train a spider. Huh,
Speaker 2: I mean I bet you could.
Speaker 3: Last episode, you know, we talked with Nikki about the
Speaker 3: work that they do with pandas and how they participate
Speaker 3: in their own care through outcome based husband.
Speaker 2: True. Yeah, right, exactly. So we should have.
Speaker 3: Asked Taylor there's anything like that with spiders.
Speaker 1: Well, we did miss our opportunity on that one asking
Speaker 1: about spiders, but I did just confirm our actual interview
Speaker 1: with someone who knows a lot about working with smart
Speaker 1: animals that participate in their own carrots a safari park.
Speaker 3: Wait wait, wait, we're heading back to the We are
Speaker 3: to talk about smart animals. Okay, so it's probably one
Speaker 3: of my friends. It takes care of parents. I mean,
Speaker 3: you know, they're wicked smart and like.
Speaker 2: The African gray parent.
Speaker 3: I worked with one of the smartest feathered coworkers I
Speaker 3: had ever.
Speaker 2: Worked with, Marco.
Speaker 1: Ye, you're right, this one will be gray in color.
Speaker 1: But no, no, no feathers this time?
Speaker 2: What Okay?
Speaker 3: Okay, smart, but not feathered Okay gray in color Well.
Speaker 1: While Marco takes a moment to think about this, be
Speaker 1: sure to subscribe and tune into our next episode, in
Speaker 1: which we learn more about packet terms that participate in
Speaker 1: their own care at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.
Speaker 2: Now, Marco went and I'm Rich Schwartz.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening. For more information about the San Diego
Speaker 1: Zoo and San Diego Zoosafari Park, go to SDZWA dot org.
Speaker 1: Amazing Wildlife is a production of iHeartRadio. Our supervising producers
Speaker 1: are Nikkia Swinton and Dylan Fagan, and our sound designers
Speaker 1: are Sierra Spreen and Matt Russell. For more shows from iHeartRadio,
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