Beautiful

scott99

Arachnoknight
Joined
Jan 8, 2015
Messages
160
Why are tarantulas so Beautiful looking? I mean their no reason for it, they are nocturnal and they can't really see.
 

IHeartTs

Arachnobaron
Joined
Mar 23, 2014
Messages
435
Why am I so beautiful looking? No one will ever know. Some are just blessed. Lol. Kidding. I think the majority of it is to blend in with their surroundings and possibly ward off predators. Some is probably just body chemistry differences that help them adapt to their environments.
 

eminart

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 22, 2008
Messages
52
I think the more brightly colored ones are probably that way to help ward off predators that do find them during the day. Danger, Danger! like coral snakes or dart frogs.
 

horanjp

Arachnosquire
Joined
May 4, 2014
Messages
141
Why are tarantulas so Beautiful looking? I mean their no reason for it, they are nocturnal and they can't really see.
There's a reason for everything in nature. Everything is an experiment in life, and those that survive...live on in their offspring. In an environment where it's advantageous to survival to be drab and brown, many of the creatures found in that area will be so. In an environment where one has to be a bit more crafty to live, you might find a rainbow colored who knows what. Color can be for sex, for camouflage, hunting, defense, and more things than you could likely ever imagine. Given enough time, and just enough resources to survive, life figures out most any situation and endures. Living things are NOT going to waste their energy on something if it does not serve a purpose or has at one point served one. If one spider has a particular pattern or color that allows it to live longer and have more sex and produce more offspring, then the next generation will also posses his or her traits---> evolution. survival. purdy colors. arachnoboards.

is definitely
reason for it
See Jeff Goldblum's Jurassic Park rant. Or most any biology textbook. It will make sense.
 

Ripa

Arachnobaron
Joined
Jan 17, 2015
Messages
341
Some animals might not think tarantulas are very beautiful- looking, namely the ones with less than 3 cone cells in their eyes :) With that said, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
 

IHeartTs

Arachnobaron
Joined
Mar 23, 2014
Messages
435
That's just cause your from Chicago lol all that fresh breeze coming off the lake. Lol
If the "breeze" had anything to do with my superior looks, everyone would strive to look like an icicle. It's like the day after tomorrow up in here.
 

Poec54

Arachnoemperor
Joined
Mar 26, 2013
Messages
4,745
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The vast majority of people don't see any beauty in spiders.
 

Hanska

Arachnobaron
Joined
Nov 2, 2013
Messages
382
Maybe some spiders are so pretty that some people would collect them and breed them in captivity, thus saving them from extinction when the other people hack down their habitats...
 

GG80

Arachnoknight
Joined
Nov 26, 2013
Messages
268
It's quiet simple....God decided to make them that way. End of mystery.

On a serious note though, colour is just a random coincidence. If it is an advantage to the species for whatever reason ie. mating, camouflauge, and gives the species the best chance of surviving long enough to reproduce then the colour will be passed on to the offspring. Sure, tarantulas are mostly nocturnal and they don't have the best eyesight but for whatever reason, known or unknown to us, the fact that they are still around shows us that specific colours on specific species have been a neccessity for the survival of these species. We as collectors are just lucky that nature selected the beautifully coloured tarantulas.
 
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archaeosite

Arachnosquire
Joined
Oct 18, 2014
Messages
57
There's a reason for everything in nature.
This isn't exactly true. Vestigial organs/limbs are one of the best proofs of evolution because they show that adaptation of preexisting structures has taken place, at times making certain body parts unused (a great example is the human appendix, or another favorite of mine are whale pelvic bones).

I see in your post you mentioned things which are/have been useful, so I think ya know this. But I don't like when people say that nature has "reasons" because it anthropomorphizes a process which does not think or reason.
 

IHeartTs

Arachnobaron
Joined
Mar 23, 2014
Messages
435
This isn't exactly true. Vestigial organs/limbs are one of the best proofs of evolution because they show that adaptation of preexisting structures has taken place, at times making certain body parts unused (a great example is the human appendix, or another favorite of mine are whale pelvic bones).

I see in your post you mentioned things which are/have been useful, so I think ya know this. But I don't like when people say that nature has "reasons" because it anthropomorphizes a process which does not think or reason.
I'm sure those parts will be gone somewhere down the line. Evolution takes some time. Things from skin color to genetic diseases, like sickle cell and even type 1 diabetes were in fact adaptations and still partially useful and may still be in the future. But nothing we know of is perfect or fool proof, so I do agree that sometimes there may be 0 point for certain things in nature.
 

Graeboe

Arachnoknight
Joined
Oct 28, 2014
Messages
164
Bahahahaha so true. You're better off swimming in a prison toilet than any of the bodies of water in Chicago.
Shhhhh your not supposed to let the secrets out. Just say you hang out around navy pier
 

Wadew

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 14, 2005
Messages
417
They are beautiful so they can attract a mate. Ultimate males especially tend to be extra colorful as to hopefully get a chance to reproduce. Other sp. in nature have them same traits, male birds are often more colorful too.
 

Poec54

Arachnoemperor
Joined
Mar 26, 2013
Messages
4,745
They are beautiful so they can attract a mate. Ultimate males especially tend to be extra colorful as to hopefully get a chance to reproduce. Other sp. in nature have them same traits, male birds are often more colorful too.

Not that females can see those colors or select mates by them at any distance with their eyesight. What's a female going to do, refuse to mate when a male gets close because his carapace color isn't quite as bright as she'd like. Not like there's a line of brightly colored males waiting for their turn to impress her (as with some animals). A potentially more likely reason would why some males in the animal kingdom are more colorful and/or have large display features: that in the survival of the fittest, the males with the most attention-attracting features would have the better genes, as they had to elude predators in spite of them to make it to the female alive.
 

MrDave

Arachnosquire
Joined
Aug 31, 2014
Messages
119
Not that females can see those colors or select mates by them at any distance with their eyesight. What's a female going to do, refuse to mate when a male gets close because his carapace color isn't quite as bright as she'd like. Not like there's a line of brightly colored males waiting for their turn to impress her (as with some animals). A potentially more likely reason would why some males in the animal kingdom are more colorful and/or have large display features: that in the survival of the fittest, the males with the most attention-attracting features would have the better genes, as they had to elude predators in spite of them to make it to the female alive.
That seems weird. Overcoming a handicap instead of just eliminating the handicap.

I think that coming up with an evolutionary benefit for things like colour in tarantulas is made really hard without being able to perceive the colour through the eyes of their predators. Things get to where they are today after millions of years of small adjustments that are made at random. Pretty spiders stand out to our eyes, but the colours and shapes may do a much better job of camouflaging them in the eyes of the birds (or whatever) that eat them.
 

Poec54

Arachnoemperor
Joined
Mar 26, 2013
Messages
4,745
That seems weird. Overcoming a handicap instead of just eliminating the handicap.

I think that coming up with an evolutionary benefit for things like colour in tarantulas is made really hard without being able to perceive the colour through the eyes of their predators. Things get to where they are today after millions of years of small adjustments that are made at random. Pretty spiders stand out to our eyes, but the colours and shapes may do a much better job of camouflaging them in the eyes of the birds (or whatever) that eat them.
Pretty spiders stand out to us because we're collectors looking at them. It's different out in the wild with everything else going on. Many tarantulas have different colors/markings on the carapace, abdomen, and legs. That breaks up their form to a casual observer, who doesn't necessarily 'connect the dots' and realize that those dissimilar parts all belong to the same animal. That works to a spider's advantage, with both prey and predator.

The 'handicap' has a purpose. There are male animals that indeed have evolved to be at an disadvantage because of oversize parts or bright colors, for the reason that they 'have to be good to survive with them.' It's a way nature thins out the less fit, without males fighting amongst themselves for breeding rights. A test of their genetic worthiness. If they can evade predators looking like that, they have to be have a lot of good traits, like speed, alertness, cunning, strength, agility, etc. All qualities that benefit a species long term survival.
 
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