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Who: Mr. Speck
What: Shared his tarantula
When: Wed., Feb. 20, 2008
Where: Mrs. Makarewich’s science class
Why: to teach students the adaptations this creature makes to survive in the rain forest of Haiti. |
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In science, Mrs. Makarewich’s third grade students are currently learning about the adaptations that creatures, plants and people make to help them survive in the tropical rain forest. As part of this study, Mr. Speck brought in his tarantula to share. |
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It is a Haitian Brown and its natural habitat is in the rain forest of Haiti. His tarantula is about six inches long right now, but will eventually grow to about nine inches in length. He told us that most tarantulas do not like to move around a lot. Instead, they find a comfortable spot and stay there for days or weeks at a time. |
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The tarantula is kept in a terrarium and it spends most
of its time living quietly under a log. Mr. Speck was able to move the log so that the children could look
closely at it.
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Though the tarantula was not taken out of the terrarium, Mr. Speck did have the exoskeleton that it had just shed. He pointed out to the children the various parts of the body and he did an excellent job showing and explaining the adaptations the tarantula makes to survive on the rain forest floor.
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Mr. Speck explained that after his tarantula had molted, it was a transparent blue and that it has just begun to turn back to brown again. He told us that a tarantula is quite vulnerable to attack right after it sheds its exoskeleton because its outer covering is soft. |
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Did you know that tarantulas are the biggest of spiders? They have eight legs, are often hairy and have two big fangs. Some tarantulas are dull brown while others can be brightly colored. They can range in size from as small as a fingernail to as big as a dinner plate; now that’s a big spider! Tarantulas have tiny hairs on the back of their abdomen and back legs. These hairs will stick to an enemy if the tarantula is disturbed and cause a huge itching sensation. Their claws are retractable, just like cats.
We learned a lot from Mr. Speck’s presentation and we were glad that he spent so much time answering all of our questions.
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