Tarantula’s are much smarter than you might think, but measuring just how smart there is kind of hard. It’s hard enough to come up with one way to do this for humans, so you can imagine how tough it can be when talking about other animals.
Considering that I always read that scientists didn’t consider spiders to be very intelligent, I thought people were being pretty rude to the poor critters! However, this opinion seems to have some basis.
Basically, tarantulas hatch knowing a whole bunch of skills that they’ll need later in life. Most biologists I’ve come across agree that these instincts are sort of inborn and tarantulas are able to do a number of things for themselves when they’re relatively young.
While that might not be the same thing as human intellect, you have to admit that it does make them pretty smart! I know I certainly didn’t just wake up one day with the ability to make my own shelter and capture my own food without needing a significant amount of practice.
How Do You Define Tarantula Intelligence?
Tarantulas aren’t going to win a Noble Prize or deliver a college thesis speech. One person I came across described them as sort of biological robots that just perform certain actions over and over again because they’ve gotten very good at it.
That makes it super difficult to describe just how smart they really are. Tarantulas, like most animals, seem to have developed some new skills over time.
For what it’s worth, they’re very good at doing certain things like collecting food and molting. Some people might think that they aren’t all that bright because they can’t be taught tricks as readily as say a dog.
That doesn’t mean that they can’t solve problems if they come across one, however. They won’t solve them in quite the same way as you or I might, but they’ll still find a solution.
Can they Solve Problems?
Scientists love to debate just about everything, and I’ve found they really like to argue about whether or not spiders show the same kind of intelligence that other forms of life show. It seems that at least some people do believe spiders are self-aware, though.
If you’re reading this, then you know that you’re a person reading an article. Dogs and cats realize that they’re there and can act on that.
Many scientists believe quite a few animals don’t really have this level of self-awareness however. Sea anemones and other colony predators just sort of act on instinct.
Most biologists I’ve come across feel that many insects share a sort of hive intellect that allows them to collectively solve problems. Arachnids like tarantulas are capable of hunting and defending their territory, so they seem to have a greater intelligence than this.
According to some researchers, there’s apparently some variation between different species of tarantulas as well as the various domestic breeds that are out there.
Which Species of Tarantula is Most Intelligent?
Exotic pet enthusiasts I’ve followed sometimes say that arboreal tarantulas tend to be the most intelligent. Interestingly enough, their opinion seems to come from the fact that these arachnids have a tendency to do what they want.
This came as a surprise to me, because I always thought of intelligent animals being able to follow suggestions. It makes sense, though, because something that’s really smart wouldn’t do anything besides what it wanted to do.
Goliath birdeater spiders, known formally as Theraphosa blondi, are also sometimes known as one of the more intelligent species. These things are really massive, but that might explain why they’re so docile.
Since birdeater tarantulas don’t have much to fear from other animals, they’ve had the time to develop skills other than just running away. Their big size tends to make them rather slow-moving compared to some species, but you’d be surprised by how quick some of them can be.
Avicularia avicularia, or the pinktoe tarantula, runs or leaps when threatened. Interestingly, though, this common pet seems to be able to distinguish between different types of threats and decide how much aggression to use when dealing with one.
Judging by what I see online, it seems like they’ve become extremely common pets at least in the exotic spider scene. This could be due to the fact that they tend to show so much initiative.
That being said, I think a lot of people are more interested in what kind of things they can teach their spiders to do.
What Tricks can You Teach a Tarantula?
I’ve come across people who get their tarantulas to sort of shake hands by teaching them to touch a leg to their finger. It’s a really neat trick, and it’s somewhat easy to get them to do since a spider might learn if you’re regularly rewarded him or her with a cricket for food.
A few people have recommended their use as a sort of positive reinforcement. You could eventually teach a tarantula to sort of respond to a stimulus using this.
Before you try that, though, you’ll want to follow the Practical Shooter’s advice on how to calm skittish spiders and tame them into pets you can handle:
While it might not seem as impressive as what people teach dogs or cats to do, keep in mind that tarantulas aren’t really able to hear and respond to commands in the same way. There are still some really neat things you can do with them, though.
Tina Jennings, from the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, has found that you can get tarantulas to give some pretty cool high-fives to anyone who does a certain motion:
It can take quite a while to get to this point, but positive reinforcement is supposed to work by teaching spiders a reflex. Granted, they’re not going to master these skills in the same way that a dog might but they can prove to be surprisingly interesting pets.