Current Event Science

When Tarantulas Have Blue Hair

By Susan Milieus

Science News Website

January 5, 2016

Scientists and experts have no idea why so many tarantulas have blue hair, but they do know that a lot of these types of spiders have blue hair. In fact, in one species alone, 40 out of 53 have blue hair. And it turns out they don’t really have blue hair. Their hair looks blue because of the light reflecting through embedded non scale structures, so it's not actually blue. So the question remains, why do these spiders have blue hair? Is it that it can help hide from predators and prey? Is it that the color can make predators pause before attacking, giving the spider a chance to move out of the way? Or is it that it can resemble a petal on a flower? Scientists do not have an answer to this yet, and in my opinion they won't stop until they do.

I chose “When Tarantulas Grow Blue Hair” as my current event because I found it interesting, and I think you will too. What grabbed my attention first was the picture at the beginning of the article. Me, being fascinated by hairy spiders, (unlike Mrs. Smith) instantly saw this picture and clicked on the link. When I started reading the article it grabbed my attention and I had to read the whole thing. What kept me going was that I wanted to know why spiders grow blue hair. When I finished reading it, I knew this would be my first choice for the Current Event Project. I learned so much from that article such as tarantulas are color blind. And that they don’t even have blue hair. The reason why I chose to write about this topic because I thought it was interesting and unique.