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Animal Themes
Invertebrates
Halloween

Tarantulas

Tarantulas
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 4 to 8
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   10.98

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    accuracy, ambush, arm-like, cobalt, striking, digestive, various, medical, hence, originally, specific, entire, species, unsuspecting, eaters, meaning
     content words:    South America

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Tarantulas   
1     Originally, the word "tarantula" was the name of a specific species of wolf spiders called the Lycosa tarantula. People were scared of this spider, because they believed unfoundedly that it spread the disease "tarantism" in southern Europe. The illness, thought to be inflicted by tarantulas' bites, was first recorded in medical journals in the 14th century. Tarantism reached its peak in the 17th century. According to the local belief, the only cure was to dance to certain music -- tarantella -- for days or even weeks.
 
2     Nowadays, the word "tarantula" has taken on a new meaning to include not only Lycosa tarantula of the Lycosidae family, but also members of several different spider families (such as the Theraphosidae, the Dipluridae, the Atypidae, and the Hexathelidae.) Hence, there are more than 850 different species of tarantulas under this broader definition.
 
3     Tarantulas like to hunt at night. Though they have up to eight eyes on the top of their heads, they cannot see very well. Nevertheless, thanks to the sensitive hairs on their bodies and legs, they manage to overcome this weakness and can ambush a passerby in the dark with pinpoint accuracy. When hungry, tarantulas wait patiently for an unsuspecting animal to come near their hideouts. Once within a striking range, tarantulas launch a surprise attack by seizing the prey with their arm-like appendages (or pedipalps) near their jaws and inject venom into it. Then, they secrete digestive juices onto the doomed victim and turn it to a cup of soup!

Paragraphs 4 to 5:
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