Why Tarantulas Keep Pet Frogs
Unexpected friendships and relationships are all over the animal kingdom and they can teach us a lot
A team of scientists in Peru were there to document tarantula prey, exploring the vicious ways these creatures captured and killed them with deadly efficiency. But while observing the nest, they observed something peculiar. These spiders approach a humming frog as they would any other creature, poised to attack. But after getting close to the frog, they would let it go and maybe even protect the little creature!
As the sun sets over the Amazon rainforest, humming frogs emerge from tarantula burrows, cleaning the exits of any unsuspecting bugs. Following them, a dozen or so tarantula spiderlings emerge, followed by the protective mother of the brood. But rather than leaping away as any prey species would, the frogs inch closer to the spider’s fangs — fangs that subdue and kill much larger creatures like snakes, opossums, frogs, and more. And yet, the frog sits there a hair’s breadth away from becoming dinner.
The two creatures sit for the evening, hunting their prey and protecting the other.
It turns out that humming frogs have evolved to secrete a chemical from their skin that tastes bad to tarantula species that hunt it. Juvenile tarantulas that have…
