Named after a baboon's fingers
Its hairy legs with dark pads on the feet reminded people of the fingers of a baboon.
The savanna · Spiders and scorpions
Baboon spider
Harpactirinae
A big, hairy, golden-brown tarantula with a starburst pattern on its back.
- Size
- Leg span up to 15cm
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Burrows in grassland and dry bush, mostly in eastern and southern Africa
Pads after you on thick, furry legs. Move your pointer and see.
When to look
Baboon spider
Good to know
Six things about the baboon spider
A burrow lined with silk
It lives in a silk-lined hole in the ground and rarely goes more than a few steps from it.
It hisses
When threatened it rears up, shows its fangs and makes a hissing sound by rubbing its mouthparts together.
A long life
A female can live for twenty years or more. Males live only a few.
It waits for supper
It sits at the mouth of its burrow at night and grabs beetles and crickets as they pass.
Painful, not deadly
Its bite hurts a great deal but is not known to kill people.
The real thing
Photos of the baboon spider
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Photos are from Wikimedia Commons, used under the free licences shown. They have been resized, and cropped where they appear in link previews.
How to spot one
Look for a neat round hole in bare ground, about the width of a coin, rimmed with silk. The owner comes to the entrance after dark. Take an adult with you.
How to help
Baboon spiders are collected for the pet trade, and in South Africa they are protected by law. They are best left in their burrows.
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