Visitors to the Butterfly Pavilion’s invertebrate zoo in Westminster are likely familiar with Rosie, the Chilean rose hair tarantula. She’s available for visitors to hold and interact with as a learning experience — and a chance to get up close and personal with a large spider. Rosie has been part of the zoo since its opening in the ‘90s.
Now she has a friend who’s joined her to greet guests.
“The Chaco golden knee is a species of tarantula found in Argentina and Paraguay,” said Sara Stevens, director of animal collections. “Overall, they’re a really fun tarantula to work with.”
The Butterfly Pavilion, 6252 W. 104th Ave., Westminster, welcomed its new ambassador to the insect zoo on July 15 — Rosie’s birthday. Through July 28, visitors can vote to name this new tarantula and can experience holding her.
“They tend to have a lot of personality while still being very easygoing,” Stevens said. “They’re a bit larger than Rosie, so it’s a fun new experience. One of my favorite things about them is that when they walk they kind of wave their front legs around a little bit like they’re searching for where they’re gonna go, it looks really silly and cute.”
Stevens oversees the acquisition of new animals at the zoo, and said that acquiring the new resident has been a long time coming.
“We do a lot of work to identify an animal that has a historic temperament that would do well with the public, and we put a ton of effort into sourcing those animals sustainably,” she said. “All of our Chacos were reared for us at Pikes Peak State College, through their zookeeping program down there. They have been rearing these tarantulas for eight years, based on a conversation about one day having them as an ambassador species here at Butterfly Pavilion. So really, the conversation started eight years ago.”
After countless hours of hard work over those eight years, the new tarantula is finally making her debut and will need a name to one day become as iconic as Rosie.
Visitors can choose from the names “Goldie,” “Chaco,” or “Oro” by casting votes in person or online at butterflies.org/chaco-voting through July 28. Additional votes can be purchased, with those proceeds going towards supporting Butterfly Pavilion’s global initiatives in invertebrate research, conservation and education.
“The Chaco golden knee is a wonderfully unique species — they’re absolutely beautiful, just like Rosie, even though it’s in a different way, and for anybody who has held Rosie before, it is a different enough handling experience that I do recommend they come out and meet our newest little star,” Stevens said.
