Tarantula causes Death Valley crash; man sent to hospital
Tarantulas emerge from underground burrows in the fall to mate. This came as quite of a surprise to tourists visiting Death Valley National Park.
It's tarantula mating season
Just in time for Halloween. It is tarantula mating season. FOX Weather explains why you may be seeing a lot more of these eight-legged fuzzy friends crawling around.
DEATH VALLEY, Calif. – While it may sound like a scary Halloween tale, a tarantula caused an accident in Death Valley National Park, sending one man to the hospital on Saturday.
Officials say a Swiss couple rented a camper van to explore the national park. While driving, they saw a tarantula ambling across the road and slammed on the brakes. A 24-year-old motorcyclist from Canada then crashed into the van behind them.
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A brown hairy spider with seven legs straddles a rock wall and gravel ground. A tarantula seen elsewhere in Death Valley National Park on the day of the accident.
(NPS / Abby Wines / FOX Weather)
An ambulance rushed the injured rider to a local hospital, but park officials report that the spider walked away unscathed.
Poor road conditions in the park blamed on Hilary
Park officials say poor road conditions within the park are due to Hurricane Hilary.
"Please drive slowly, especially going down steep hills in the park," said Superintendent Mike Reynolds in a statement. "Our roads still have gravel patches due to flood damage, and wildlife of all sizes are out."
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![Rocks, mud and floodwater being cleared from highway 190 after heavy rains hit Death Valley National Park early evening August 20.]()
Image 1 of 5Rocks, mud and floodwater being cleared from highway 190 after heavy rains hit Death Valley National Park early evening August 20. (NPS)
![Flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Hilary caused road damage in many places, including along CA Hwy 190 near Zabriskie Point.]()
Image 2 of 5Flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Hilary caused road damage in many places, including along CA Hwy 190 near Zabriskie Point. (NPS)
![Debris completely covers a paved road near Wildrose Campground in Death Valley National Park.]()
Image 3 of 5Debris completely covers a paved road near Wildrose Campground in Death Valley National Park. (NPS)
![Pavement loss along CA SR190 between Stovepipe Wells and Emigrant.]()
Image 4 of 5Pavement loss along CA SR190 between Stovepipe Wells and Emigrant. (NPS)
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Image 5 of 5Comfort stations at Zabriskie Point filled with mud due to flooding caused by the remnants of Hurricane Hilary. (NPS)
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More than a year’s worth of rain fell that day, producing flash floods that undercut pavement and caused roads across the California park to collapse, according to the National Park Service.
"The event we experienced in August was one of these dynamic events that has helped to shape Death Valley," Matthew Lamar, park ranger at Death Valley National Park told FOX Weather in a previous interview. "Some of those impacts will last for years."
The park just started reopening to the public in mid-October.
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Tarantula on the road.
(Helen H. Richardson / MediaNews Group / The Denver Post / Getty Images)
Tarantulas common in Death Valley especially in fall
While the poor road conditions and gravel are unusual for Death Valley, tarantula crossings are not.
"Tarantulas spend most of their long lives in underground burrows. People see them most often in the fall, when 8- to 10-year-old male tarantulas leave their burrows to search for a mate," said spokesperson Abby Wines in a statement.
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A Tarantula walks on a road at the Sequoia National Park in California.
(MARK RALSTON/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
"The female sometimes kills and eats him after mating. Even if she doesn’t kill him, the male tarantula rarely lives more than a few more months," she continued. "However, female tarantulas can live for 25 years, mating multiple times."
Wines claimed that slow-moving arachnids are not aggressive or deadly to humans. Bites are similar to a bee sting.