Wellington Zoo has become the first zoo in 20 years to successfully breed Goliath bird-eating tarantulas.
It is also the first time the "beautiful" spiders have ever been bred in Australasia, said the zoo's team leader of reptiles and invertebrates, Dave Laux.
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The massive spiders, which can have a leg span up to 30cm - about the size of a dinner plate - are the largest species of arachnid in the world.
"When we drop to level 2 our doors will be reopening, we will have some new babies for our visitors," he said.
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Advertise with NZME.Along with baby nyala antelopes, the baby tarantulas will hopefully be able to be viewed.
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"We're excited to announce that we have successfully bred Goliath bird-eating tarantulas.
"They are an absolutely fantastic species that we're really proud to be working with."
Laux said the spiders were "really, really big" and a "beautiful mahogany brown" colour.
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Advertise with NZME."The babies are currently about the size of a 10 cent coin."
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The zoo has had a particularly small "clutch" of tarantula babies, with 13 born, but the species has been known to lay as many as 150 babies in a single egg sac.
"We're extremely excited. This is for certain the first time the species have ever been bred in Australasia."
According to the Zoo Information Management System, a global network of zoo records, no other zoo has recorded breeding the spiders in the past two decades, he said.
"We're pretty proud. We've been working on this project for a couple of years. It's extremely rewarding to finally see the fruits of our labour."
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