holothele aggressiveness

[kreuz]

hi once more!

the aggressiveness seems to be a rather controversial issue as far as the genus holothele (at least h. incei) is concerned.
What are your expereinces? Mine is not overly aggressive but soo damn fast and is always trying to flee when she gets her food!

and another question: is there any scientific explanation why this genus does not possess urticating hair although they are from the NW? Do they have a stronger venom than other NW tarantulas or is there any other reason, because for example the venom of psalmopoeus which also does not posses urticatinmg hair seems to be quite strong. an the same accounts for all thos OW ts.

 

[fartkowski]

I have two of these that are about 1"
they seem to agressive towards the crickets but not me.
they do usually grab it and go right back down the burrow, they are alot of fun to watch.
I have to rehouse them soon so I guess i'll find out just how fast these little guys really are

 

[maxident213]

I have a couple of H. incei slings, and they have some of the most impressive "feeding aggression" I've seen. Highly entertaining to watch a little 1/2" T chasing a cricket around a tank, in permanent threat display mode. I would agree that they seem aggressive towards prey, but haven't shown any towards me yet.

 

[TheDarkFinder]

there is no tarantula that is aggressive.

Please read this article.

It is socially accurate by the morals of this board.
http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?p=849747#post849747

It needs to be noted article above is socially acceptable here. It is not acceptable in any animal behavior, physiologically, or biological science use.

In a strict science sense, defense in apart of aggression.
Here is the general concept of what behavior sciences believe is aggression.

Moyer (1968) defined various categories of animal aggression:

1. Territorial defense - when animals attack intruders who enter their 'territory'

2. Predatory aggression - when an animal attacks prey. This form of aggression is NOT believed to be hunger-induced, but rather involves the lateral hypothalamus and the specific 'trigger' stimuli (the animals it typically feeds on - the prey).

3. Inter-male aggression - occurs when another (stranger) male is present. Androgens (hormones) are believed to be important in this form of aggression.

4. Fear-induced aggression - always preceded by attempts to escape. This form of aggressive behavior is most evident when the animal is 'cornered' and is afraid. They will almost always react with aggression before they attempt to escape. The amygdala and lateral hypothalamus are believed to be important here.

5. Irritable aggression - this will be evoked by any attackable object or other animal. The ventromedial hypothalamus and amygdala are believed to be the crucial brain structures here.

6. Maternal aggression - when a female reacts with aggression in order to protect her young from harm.

7. Instrumental aggression - when aggression was used successfully in a given situation in the past the animal will use this behavior again (in the same or similar situation - therefore the behavior has been reinforced via learning).

It needs to be said that there is various terms that have been induced.

Paul Brain (1979) criticized Moyer's theory however, primarily because he believed that there was a great deal of category overlap in Moyer's classification system. Brain proposed an alternative classification, which focused on the utility (the usefulness) of the aggressive behavior to the animal and NOT (unlike Moyer) on the evoking stimuli/environment. Brain's classification was as follows:

1. Self-defensive behavior - when aggression results from threats to the individual, is accompanied by fear and is generally preceded by escape/avoidance attempts.

2. Social conflict - a variety of activities, all of which relate to interspecific competition for resources that are important for reproductive success.

3. Predatory attack - attack of an object which approximates to a natural prey species

4. Parental defense - similar to Moyer's Maternal Aggression

5. Reproductive termination - refers to infanticide - killing of the young.

Notice that even when a behavior is self defensive it is defined in terms of aggression. Aggression is behaviorly define into two categories defensive and offensive. Most tarantula use defensive aggression. But not all, do more search to understand this, I would say start by reading Biology of aggression.

What the op wanted to propose is humans behavior of attacking with out being provoked, is equal to animal aggression that you see in tarantula, why he posted term tha descripe human behavior.

But animals behaviorists point out that aggression may manifest itself in response to a threat or as an attack. So in animal research aggression is the correct term, defensive is the human term that defines a legal concept.

But it has been decide that defensive is the politically correct term here and there for we do not need to use the term aggressive or aggression to decribe tarantula behavior.

This has been fought out and the boards have made thier choice on this subject so lets just drop it.

Most of this has been taken directly from my animal behavior class, biology 412 and the animal behavoir text book. This is the scientific terms that are use by professional research animal behavior.

Here is the generally accepted term of aggression,

In biology, behaviour used to intimidate or injure another organism (of the same or of a different species), usually for the purposes of gaining territory, a mate, or food. Aggression often involves an escalating series of threats aimed at intimidating an opponent without having to engage in potentially dangerous physical contact. Aggressive signals include roaring by red deer, snarling by dogs, the fluffing-up of feathers by birds, and the raising of fins by some species of fish.

Aggressive signals allow the individual to assess the strength of an opponent and so decide whether to risk a fight. Many species use specialized structures during aggression, such as antlers in deer, or display plumage such as crests in birds. Most interactions end with one individual submitting or withdrawing before physical battle occurs: ‘fights to the death’ are rare in nature.

 

[kreuz]

sorry for using the wrong terminology!
well, than let's put it this way. how likely is holothele sp. to attack when doing maintenance work, feed it or rehouse it.

 

[Moltar]

I have 1 H. incei sling about 1-1/2". It has been nothing but skittish as heck when i go into the enclosure for maintenance, etc, running back into the hole in a green streak. The speed of this animal however is frightening! Literally faster than the eye can follow. I've heard the word "teleport" used in reference to spiders before and it certainly applies here. I am an fear already of the imminent rehousing and possible persuit that may result.

As far as the territorial defensiveness which is what a suppose we're really talking about here, i guess i'll find out when the little bugger matures a bit. If it comes down to it i'll be posting in 'bite reports'. The aggressiveness towards prey is awesome though. The crix really don't even know what hits 'em. It is impressive to watch.

 

[TheDarkFinder]

sorry for using the wrong terminology!
well, than let's put it this way. how likely is holothele sp. to attack when doing maintenance work, feed it or rehouse it.

To attack is to be aggressive.
Holothele are not likely to be defensive when you do the maintenance on its enclosure. It is more likely to run and hide. They are very quick. But the popular definition combine with biology no tarantula can rear or show a threat, because that would be defined by biology as aggressive.


Now to answer your question, look at the bite reports, the number one biter is g. rosea, which proves all tarantula should shown respect. But holothele in my limited experience they are not defensive.