While hundreds of butterflies have been fluttering about the pavilion for the past few years, a new arthropod will be calling the area home as hundreds of live spiders take over the pavilion from October 1 – November 30.
Much like SOAR, guests can purchase an additional timed ticket to enter the pavilion for 30 minutes to be surrounded by orb-weaving spiders like Trichonephila clavipes (golden silk orb-weaver), Argiope aurantia (yellow garden spider), Gasteracantha (spiny orb-weaver), Leucauge (orchard spider) and Araneus (Angulate orbweavers). While these spiders will be living freely in the pavilion, there will be some additional tarantulas inside glass cases. The Emergence Chamber will be turned into our Spider Wall that will educate guests about the brown widow, which was “discovered” in Torrance in 2003 as an invasive species on the West Coast!