Back From The Desert

image I wasn't able to post for the past few days since I was out in the Anza Borrego desert (just outside of San Diego), where I spent a long weekend with my wife and parents at the Borrego Valley Inn. I got to see some incredible desert fauna while I was there, including coyotes, jack rabbits, tarantulas, red-tailed hawks, and roadrunners. Thankfully I didn't encounter any rattlesnakes. In the picture to the right I believe that I was looking at a Jumpin' Yuccy.
Update: Here's a picture of the tarantula that I saw. It was just wandering down the road. I'm assuming it was a tarantula, though given my limited knowledge of spiders, I could be wrong.

Miscellaneous

Posted on Mon Oct 17, 2005


Comments

So uh..is the Jumpin' Yuccy real or not?
Posted by Dan  on  Tue Oct 18, 2005  at  12:56 AM
That's a North American Funnel Web, you are lucky to be alive.
Posted by Moi  on  Tue Oct 18, 2005  at  06:10 AM
I am curious about the jump'n yuccy as well...
Posted by X  on  Tue Oct 18, 2005  at  07:04 AM
That's a tarantula for sure. By the way, it's not lucky that you didn't see any rattlers--they're hardly aggressive, and they can be really pretty. And sidewinders move in a way that doesn't even look real.
Anyways, nice to see that we like the same desert.
Posted by Citizen Premier  on  Tue Oct 18, 2005  at  08:07 AM
Yep, that's a tarantula.
As CP says, rattlesnakes aren't really all that dangerous. People who get bitten usually stepped on them or otherwise got right in their faces somehow. Even if you are bitten, the bite is seldom fatal (although it IS painful).

" ... including coyotes, jack rabbits, tarantulas, red-tailed hawks, and roadrunners ..."

What about jackalopes?
Posted by Big Gary in Dallas  on  Tue Oct 18, 2005  at  09:30 AM
What about jackalopes?

That was my first thought, too!
Posted by Smerk  on  Tue Oct 18, 2005  at  06:41 PM
That is a beautiful tarantula. I want to say maybe a cinnamon but the color isn't right, more than likely it is a Desert Tarantula (Aphonopelma chalcodes) http://www.enature.com/fieldguides/enlarged.asp?imageID=18635.

This picture is of a captive one so it will look a bit different than the one who has been roughing it in the wild.
Posted by Myst  on  Tue Oct 18, 2005  at  08:05 PM
Jackalopes sometimes are seen in southern california. But not often. They're more common in the midwest and Rockies. Which is why I wasn't surprised that I didn't encounter one.
Posted by The Curator  in  San Diego  on  Wed Oct 19, 2005  at  09:19 AM
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