Each fall thousands of solo male tarantulas traverse through the Comanche National Grasslands (just outside of La Junta, Colorado) in search of a mate, and it's the last thing they'll do. Sometimes referred to as a “migration” it is not that. But it is a mass movement of newly sexually mature male tarantulas (around 5-7 years old) seeking out reproduction opportunities before they die. Some what of a mate-walk, or a last dance. Within months, nearly all of these intrepid searchers will be dead; for some, their lives are ended by females, birds, or passing traffic.  But the majority perish once the temperatures hit single digits. Females, however, can live upwards of 20+ years and remain in and around their burrows for the duration of their life.

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For millennia tarantulas have been villainized, but they are an essential part of the ecosystem. One town in Colorado aims to change that negative perception. To commemorate this movement of spiders and bring attention to the essential role they play in the region’s environmental health, the town of La Junta hosts an annual tarantula festival. Also an active strategy to demystify one of earth’s most misunderstood and villainized creatures. Connecting tarantula lovers from all walks of life, including their dogs dressed as tarantulas, cars decorated in tarantulas and even one self-proclaimed "Tarantula King".

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"We have more than 443,000-plus acres on the Comanche National Grassland. Furthermore, Visit La Junta’s priority is to promote responsible visitation at all stages of the visitor lifecycle focusing on and encouraging safe, responsible, and sustainable viewing of the tarantulas in their natural habitat, for many years to come.”

-Pamela Denahy