Tarantula causes traffic accident in Death Valley National Park in California

Authorities reported that a tarantula that was crossing a road in the National Park on Saturday Death Valley, in California, caused a traffic accident after some Swiss tourists slammed on the brakes to avoid crushing her.

The National Park Service said the couple saw a tarantula crossing CA-190 east Towne Pass and slammed on the brakes of his rental van to avoid colliding with it, causing a 24-year-old Canadian motorcyclist to crash into the back of the camper.

A Park Service ambulance took the motorcyclist to Desert View Hospital in Pahrump. There was no information on its condition.

The tarantula, according to the park service, was unharmed.

“Please drive away Slowly, especially when going down steep hills in the park,” said Superintendent Mike Reynolds, the first park service employee to arrive at the scene in Death Valley National Park, according to CBS News.

“Our roads still have gravel patches due to flood damage, and wildlife of all sizes are out,” he added.

The National Park Service noted that tarantulas spend most of their long lives in underground burrows.

“People see them most often in the fall, when 8- to 10-year-old male tarantulas leave their burrows in search of a mate. Sometimes the female kills it and eats it after mating. Even if she does not kill him, the male tarantula rarely lives more than a few months longer. However, female tarantulas can live 25 years and mate several times, she explained.

“Tarantulas move slowly and are not aggressive. The sting of a tarantula is reported to be similar to that of a bee and is not fatal to humans,' the service said.