Why Are Tarantulas Blue?

Plants and Animals





Photo credit:

A greenbottle blue tarantula. Michael Kern/www.thegardensofeden.org

Maybe you’ve never stuck around long enough to get a close look at a tarantula, but most of them are blue. And according to a new study published in Science Advances this week, that vibrant hue is driven by natural selection – not sexual selection like we might expect.