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Sticker of Kilimanjaro mustard baboon spider
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Kilimanjaro mustard baboon spider

Pterinochilus chordatus
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsSpidersGardens and meadows8 legsNot an insect, but a bug cousin

The Kilimanjaro mustard baboon spider is a big, hairy tarantula from East Africa. In Africa, tarantulas are often called baboon spiders. It can be quite grumpy, so it is a spider to admire from a distance.

Fun fact: spiders are not insects. Insects have six legs, spiders have eight. Everyone calls them bugs anyway!
Lives in
East Africa, from Sudan down to Tanzania
Length
5 cm (2 in)
up to
Top speed
about 1.4 km/h (0.87 mph)
On foot, estimate
What does it eat?
Like other tarantulas, it catches insects and other small animals.
For real!Photo of Kilimanjaro mustard baboon spider
Picture by ChriKo. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Kilimanjaro mustard baboon spider about 5 cm long (2 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)
as long as 8 grains of rice in a rowas long as 1.5 toy building bricks in a rowcould run across a dinner table in 2.6 seconds

How big is Kilimanjaro mustard baboon spider compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Its body can be up to 5 centimetres long.

2

With its legs stretched out, it can be up to 15 centimetres across, about as wide as a grown-up's hand.

3

It was first described in 1873 by the German scientist Carl Eduard Adolph Gerstaecker.

4

Experts say it is not a good pet for beginners, because it can be fairly aggressive.

you asked

Most asked questions about Kilimanjaro mustard baboon spider

?How big is the Kilimanjaro mustard baboon spider?

Its body is up to 5 centimetres long, and with its legs it can be 15 centimetres across.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Pterinochilus chordatus
Named by
Gerstaecker, 1873
Group
Spiders
Family
Theraphosidae
Classification
Arachnida > Araneae > Theraphosidae
Lives on
Africa

Where the facts come from

  1. Pterinochilus chordatus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by ChriKo. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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