• Age: 6 to 8
• Grade: 1 to 3

Spiders are amazing creatures. There are more than 38,000 known species of spiders, and a human is said to never be more than 3 meters away from a spider.

Spiders are NOT insects. Spiders have eight legs and two bodily sections, while insects have six legs and three bodily sections.

Some spiders are poisionous (and deadly), but most are not.

All spiders produce silk, which many species use to spin webs and capture their prey.

The largest spider is the Goliath birdeater. It can grow to be 28 centimeters wide and have fangs that are 2.5 centimeters long.

Tamara Hartson's profile page

Tamara Hartson, equipped from the age of six with a canoe, a dip net and a notepad, grew up in Alberta with a fascination for nature and the diversity of life, She has a degree in environmental conservation sciences, and has photographed and written about wildlife in Bermuda, the Galapagos Islands, the Amazon Basin, Argentina, Tibet and India. With a fondness for paleontology, Tamara has studied and participated in paleo digs in Alberta and Patagonia. She has worked in both Canada and Argentina as an interpretive naturalist and guide, specializing in ecology and paleontology. An award-winning photographer, her photographs appear in numerous books, posters and online magazines. Tamara now lives in Patagonia and she continues to write, photograph and travel.