Spider lovers scurry to Colorado town in search of mating tarantulas and community

LA JUNTA, Colo. (AP) — Love is in the air on the Colorado plains — the kind that makes your heart beat a bit faster, quickens your step and makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up.

It's tarantula mating season, when male spiders scurry out of their burrows in search of a mate, and hundreds of arachnophiles flock to the small farming town of La Junta to watch them emerge in droves.

Scientists, spider enthusiasts and curious Colorado families piled into buses just before dusk last weekend as tarantulas began to roam the dry, rolling plains. Some used flashlights and car headlights to spot the arachnids once the sun set.

Back in town, festivalgoers flaunted their tarantula-like traits in a hairy leg contest — a woman claimed the title this year — and paraded around in vintage cars with giant spiders on the hoods. The 1990 cult classic film “Arachnophobia,” which follows a small town similarly overrun with spiders, screened downtown at the historic Fox Theater.

For residents of La Junta, tarantulas aren't the nightmarish creatures often depicted on the silver screen. They're an important part of the local ecosystem and a draw for people around the U.S. who might have otherwise never visited the tight-knit town in southeastern Colorado.

Word spread quickly among neighbors about all the people they had met from out of town during the third year of the tarantula festival.

Among them was Nathan Villareal, a tarantula breeder from Santa Monica, California, who said he heard about the mating season and knew it was a spectacle he needed to witness. Villareal sells tarantulas as pets to people around the U.S. and said he has been fascinated with them since childhood.

“Colorado Brown” tarantulas are the most common in the La Junta area, and they form their burrows in the largely undisturbed prairies of the Comanche National Grassland.

In September and October, the mature males wander in search of a female's burrow, which she typically marks with silk webbing. Peak viewing time is an hour before dusk when the heat of the day dies down.

“We saw at least a dozen tarantulas on the road, and then we went back afterwards and saw another dozen more," Villareal said.

Male tarantulas take around seven years to reach reproductive readiness, then spend the rest of their lifespan searching for a mate, said Cara Shillington, a biology professor at Eastern Michigan University who studies arachnids. They typically live for about a year after reaching sexual maturity, while females can live for 20 years or more.

The males grow to be about 5 inches long and develop a pair of appendages on their heads that they use to drum outside a female's burrow. She will crawl to the surface if she is a willing mate, and the male will hook its legs onto her fangs.

Their coupling is quick, as the male tries to get away before he is eaten by the female, who tends to be slightly larger and needs extra nutrients to sustain her pregnancy.

Like many who attended the festival, Shillington is passionate about teaching people not to fear tarantulas and other spiders. Tarantulas found in North America tend to be docile creatures, she explained. Their venom is not considered dangerous to humans but can cause pain and irritation.

“When you encounter them, they're more afraid of you,” Shillington said. “Tarantulas only bite out of fear. This is the only way that they have to protect themselves, and if you don't put them in a situation where they feel like they have to bite, then there is no reason to fear them.”

Many children who attended the festival with their families learned that spiders are not as scary as they might seem. Roslyn Gonzales, 13, said she couldn't wait to go searching for spiders come sunset.

For graduate student Goran Shikak, whose arm was crawling with spider tattoos, the yearly festival represents an opportunity to celebrate tarantulas with others who share his fascination.

“They're beautiful creatures,” said Shikak, an arachnology student at the University of Colorado Denver. “And getting to watch them do what they do ... is a joy and experience that's worth watching in the wild.”

Tarantula crossing stickers are piled on a table at the Tarantula Festival in La Junta, Colo., on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

Andrew Motte, a filmmaking student at Montana State University, films a tarantula on the plains near La Junta, Colo., on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

A male tarantula looks for a mate while a researcher's dog stands watch on the plains near La Junta, Colo., Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

A tourist looks for tarantulas on the plains near La Junta, Colo., on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

Raven Myhre, of Fort Collins, Colo., draws a spider at the Tarantula Festival in La Junta, Colo., on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

Kendall Foreman, left, and Raven Myhre, right, both of Fort Collins, Colo., create artwork at the Tarantula Festival in La Junta, Colo., on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

A male tarantula looks for a mate on the plains near La Junta, Colo., on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

A tourist photographs a male tarantula looking for a mate on the plains near La Junta, Colo., on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

Car headlights shine on a male tarantula looking for a mate on the plains near La Junta, Colo., on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

A male tarantula looks for a mate on the plains near La Junta, Colo., on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

A classic car is decorated with fake spiders at the Tarantula Festival in La Junta, Colo., Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

Goran Shikak, an arachnology graduate student at The University of Colorado Denver, shows off his spider tattoos during the Tarantula Festival in La Junta, Colo., Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

A male tarantula looks for a mate on the plains near La Junta, Colo., on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

A man walks in the Tarantula Festival parade in La Junta, Colo., Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

A male tarantula looks for a mate on the plains near La Junta, Colo., on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

Dr. Cara Shillington, a biology professor at Eastern Michigan University, surveys the plains during tarantula mating season near La Junta, Colo., on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

Car headlights shine on a male tarantula looking for a mate on the plains near La Junta, Colo., Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

A male tarantula looks for a mate on the plains near La Junta, Colo., Friday, Sept. 27, 2024.(AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

Glenn Hall, a Hockey Hall of Famer whose ironman streak of 502 starts as a goaltender remains an NHL record, has died. He was 94.

Nicknamed “Mr. Goalie,” Hall worked to stop pucks at a time when players at his position were bare-faced, before masks of any kind became commonplace. He did it as well as just about anyone of his generation, which stretched from the days of the Original Six into the expansion era.

A spokesperson for the Chicago Blackhawks confirmed the team received word of Hall’s death from his family. A league historian in touch with Hall’s son, Pat, said Hall died at a hospital in Stony Plain, Alberta, on Wednesday.

A pioneer of the butterfly style of goaltending of dropping to his knees, Hall backstopped Chicago to the Stanley Cup in 1961. He won the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the playoffs in 1968 with St. Louis when the Blues reached the final before losing to Montreal. He was the second of just six Conn Smythe winners from a team that did not hoist the Cup.

His run of more than 500 games in net is one of the most untouchable records in sports, given how the position has changed in the decades since. Second in history is Alec Connell with 257 from 1924-30.

“Glenn was sturdy, dependable and a spectacular talent in net,” Commissioner Gary Bettman said. “That record, set from 1955-56 to 1962-63, still stands, probably always will, and is almost unfathomable — especially when you consider he did it all without a mask.”

Counting the postseason, Hall started 552 games in a row.

Hall won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 1956 when playing for the Detroit Red Wings. After two seasons, he was sent to the Black Hawks along with legendary forward Ted Lindsay.

Hall earned two of his three Vezina Trophy honors as the league's top goalie with Chicago, in 1963 and '67. The Blues took him in the expansion draft when the NHL doubled from six teams to 12, and he helped them reach the final in each of their first three years of existence, while winning the Vezina again at age 37.

Hall was in net when Boston's Bobby Orr scored in overtime to win the Cup for the Bruins in 1970, a goal that's among the most famous in hockey history because of the flying through the air celebration that followed. He played one more season with St. Louis before retiring in 1971.

“His influence extended far beyond the crease," Blues chairman Tom Stillman said. “From the very beginning, he brought credibility, excellence, and heart to a new team and a new NHL market.”

A native of Humboldt, Saskatchewan, Hall was a seven-time first-team NHL All-Star who had 407 wins and 84 shutouts in 906 regular-season games. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1975, and his No. 1 was retired by Chicago in 1988.

Hall was chosen as one of the top 100 players in the league's first 100 years.

Blackhawks chairman and CEO Danny Wirtz called Hall an innovator and “one of the greatest and most influential goaltenders in the history of our sport and a cornerstone of our franchise.”

“We are grateful for his extraordinary contributions to hockey and to our club, and we will honor his memory today and always,” Wirtz said.

The Blackhawks paid tribute to Hall and former coach and general manager Bob Pulford with a moment of silence before Wednesday night’s game against St. Louis. Pulford died Monday.

A Hall highlight video was shown on the center-ice videoboard. The lights were turned off for the moment of silence, except for a spotlight on the No. 1 banner for Hall that hangs in the rafters at the United Center.

Fellow Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur, the league's leader in wins with 691 and games played with 1,266, posted a photo of the last time he saw Hall along with a remembrance of him.

“Glenn Hall was a legend, and I was a big fan of his,” Brodeur said on social media. “He set the standard for every goaltender who followed. His toughness and consistency defined what it meant to play.”

AP Sports Writer Jay Cohen in Chicago contributed to this report.

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

FILE - Glenn Hall, second from left, stands with fellow former Chicago Blackhawks players Stan Mikita, former general manager Tommy Ivan, Bobby Hull, Bill Wirtz and Tony Esposito during a pre-game ceremony at the Chicago Stadium in Chicago, Ill., April 14, 1994. (AP Photo/Fred Jewell, File)

FILE - St. Louis Blues goalie Glenn Hall, top right, is pinned to his net waiting to make a save on a Montreal Canadians shot as Blues' Noel Picard (4) tries to block the puck while Canadiens' John Ferguson (22) and Ralph Backstorm wait for a rebound in the third period of their NHL hockey Stanley Cup game, May 5, 1968. (AP Photo/Fred Waters, File)