Arachnid House Reading Answers

Welcome everyone to the Arachnid House at Broadley Zoo. This exhibit is full of spiders and scorpions from all around the world. These are not the most cuddly animals at the zoo, but they are fascinating creatures that play a vital role in ecosystems across the planet. We know that this exhibit is not for everyone, as many people have a spider phobia, but if you do wish to enter, we ask that you try to remain quiet so as not to disturb the arachnids. Loud noises disorient them, making it difficult for them to catch their prey. By the way, if you do have arachnophobia, the zoo holds exposure therapy courses to help overcome fears. In the final session, you will actually hold a large spider in your hands!

What can you find inside?

First is the web room, where you can observe spiders spinning orbital webs. Our microscope cameras capture the spinning process live, following the spiders around their web. You can also watch as insects get caught in the net and are carefully wrapped in silk. 

People love the tarantula room. There are fifteen species of tarantula from Central and South America and Asia, all in separate exhibit boxes built to recreate their natural habitats

as best as possible. See a mini Ecuadorian jungle and a landscape like the Arizona desert. Each little ecosystem also contains the underground burrow of the tarantula, all visible through glass. The breeding room always contains common European spider eggs that are about to hatch. Watch as hundreds of them break out of their silky eggs to meet the world. It's a fascinating process.

Next door is the venomous spider room, where the most deadly spiders in the world are

found including the Australian funnel web spider. Our pride and joy is our display of Goliath Birdeaters, the largest, and possibly the hairiest, tarantula in the world. It measures about thirty centimetres across and is the size of a small puppy. It's an incredible sight. Don't forget the scorpions. They have their own room too. We have thirty species on display of this fascinating creature. Not that you will have the opportunity to put it to test, but scorpions are rarely fatal to large animals like humans.