What to do with tarantula hybrids?

BobBarley

BobBarley

Arachnoprince
Joined
Sep 16, 2015
Messages
1,486
CladeArthropoda said:
Oh. I have one more thing to say. This is captivity. If hybrids where messing up the gene pools of wild populations, then that would be a massive problem. But this is captivity, and no one is releasing hybrids into the wild, so it's not like they're making species extinct.
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That's not the point. If a species in the wild is extremely endangered or even becomes extinct, we want as many live, pure, specimens in the hobby as possible, to keep the species alive and potentially reintroduce the species to a suitable habitat.

Take a look at Simandoa conserfariam. Not a tarantula, but something similar could happen to some species of tarantulas. It is a species of roach that was collected in a cave system in Africa. Shortly thereafter, it was mined for bauxite. That cave system was the only known population for conserfariam. Now, it only lives on in captivity. It's not very likely that this species of roach could be bred with any other one in the hobby, however, if it was bred with other roaches, the whole species could eventually be compromised.
 
CladeArthropoda

CladeArthropoda

Arachnoknight
Joined
Jul 2, 2017
Messages
174
BobBarley said:
That's not the point. If a species in the wild is extremely endangered or even becomes extinct, we want as many live, pure, specimens in the hobby as possible, to keep the species alive and potentially reintroduce the species to a suitable habitat.

Take a look at Simandoa conserfariam. Not a tarantula, but something similar could happen to some species of tarantulas. It is a species of roach that was collected in a cave system in Africa. Shortly thereafter, it was mined for bauxite. That cave system was the only known population for conserfariam. Now, it only lives on in captivity.
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Oh. It sucks they're endangered.
 
EulersK

EulersK

Arachnonomicon
Staff member
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Feb 22, 2013
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3,291
CladeArthropoda said:
Oh. I have one more thing to say. This is captivity. If hybrids where messing up the gene pools of wild populations, then that would be a massive problem. But this is captivity, and no one is releasing hybrids into the wild, so it's not like they're making species extinct.
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P. metallica is critically endangered (source)
B. smithi is near threatened (source)
P. hanumavilasumica is critically endangered (source)

Both P. metallica and P. hanumavilasumica aren't exactly impossible to find in the hobby. They're expensive, but I see them for sale often. It is absolutely possible that these animals will become extinct in the wild within our lifetime. That's partly what this hobby is about - preserving nature. Sometimes preserving nature is ugly, and involved the eradication of impure individuals or invasive species.
 
JoshDM020

JoshDM020

Arachnobaron
Joined
Mar 24, 2017
Messages
356
I like how this thread has mentioned the aspects of preservation. This is one of the biggest reasons i even became interested. Do i own a species thats CURRENTLY in any real danger? Not that i know of. But they may be one day. And i also plan on owning quite a few more in the future. Breeding is also something that I'm interested in, but until i move i dont think thats happening. One of the first questions i asked was "Whats the big deal with hybrids?". And thats really when the preservation aspect became obvious. It quickly became something i feel like i NEED to do. Not in an unhealthy way or anything. Im not gonna starve myself or anyone i care about just to buy a spider, but i would try my ass off to save enough money for it. Seeing things die out in the world lowers my chances to learn something about it, and i like learning about all kinds of things. Im a knowledge junkie. Some people just call me a know-it-all :rolleyes:.
 
viper69

viper69

ArachnoGod
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mconnachan

mconnachan

Arachnoprince
Joined
Aug 5, 2012
Messages
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EulersK said:
P. metallica is critically endangered (source)
B. smithi is near threatened (source)
P. hanumavilasumica is critically endangered (source)

Both P. metallica and P. hanumavilasumica aren't exactly impossible to find in the hobby. They're expensive, but I see them for sale often. It is absolutely possible that these animals will become extinct in the wild within our lifetime. That's partly what this hobby is about - preserving nature. Sometimes preserving nature is ugly, and involved the eradication of impure individuals or invasive species.
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Great sources for these critically endangered species, if only some people would take the time and listen to what's being said, there would be no confusion as to the detrimental effect that hybrid species have in the hobby.
 
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