The Hardest Tarantula to Find in the World? (+ Giant Malaysian Earth Tiger)

In today's video, we're going to be looking for two species of tarantulas that I've been trying to find in the wild for a while now. The first is the Malaysian earth tiger tarantula, Omothimus shiitai. It's one of the largest arboreal tarantulas in Southeast Asia. The second is the electric blue tarantula, Gilobrachys natanicharum. It was only described in 2023 and it's one of the most hyped tarantulas discoveries in years. Now, you might be thinking, okay cool, go find them. But here's the problem. I've tried to find both of these species multiple times now and I keep failing. So, we're starting in Malaysia. The target species is the Malaysian earth tiger tarantula, Omothimus shiitai. They call it the Malaysian earth tiger, which is kind of funny because it's actually arboreal. It lives in trees and not just any trees. Adult females are found almost entirely in large major trees. We're talking hollow cavities 10, 15, sometimes 20 meters off the ground. The younger animals you can sometimes find behind loose bark or rock crevices or even man-made structures like bridges and boardwalks. But the big adult females, they're way up there. They're found in the northern state of peninsular Malaysia and on offshore islands like Langkawi and Penang. Primary lowland forest, foothill monsoon rainforest, that's their habitat. So, we searched the lowland forest for a couple of days, checked every accessible hollow we could find. Nothing. I was beginning to get a little worried we wouldn't find anything at all. But I wasn't ready to give up just yet. So, we've changed plans and headed up the highlands, Fraser's Hill, about 1,200 meters elevation, different habitat, different species. And that's when we found her, Coromyognemis hogi, the Malaysian purple femur tarantula. This species only exists in about 10 square miles of highland forest, right there, nowhere else on earth. They build these silk-sealed burrows on steep shaded slopes and just wait for prey to wander by. Look at these purple femurs. I was so excited, I just sat there and watched for a while. Not what I came for, but exactly what the jungle decided to show me. You take what it gives you. Now, I still don't have any wild Homo thumus footage from the Malaysian earth tiger tarantula, but I do keep them in captivity. The tiger stripes on her abdomen are there from birth. Spiderlings have them, juveniles keep them, adults still carry them. They never disappear. It's how she earned the earth tiger name. Which is ironic, because she lives 20 meters up in tree hollows, an earth tiger that never touches earth. Dense setae, hairs, covering every surface. This isn't just aesthetic, it's sensory. She feels the world through these hairs. Vibrations, air movement, temperature changes. And look at these pads on her feet. Those are scopula, millions of tiny hairs that let her grip vertical surfaces. This is a spider built for climbing. Fast climbing. When threatened, she doesn't stand her ground, she bolts upward and only if there's nowhere to go, like on our little filming session here, she goes in her defense posture. And she can scream, well, stridulate. She rubs her chelicera together and produces a hissing sound at around 13.000 Hz, up to 9 seconds long. It's a warning, I am not worth the trouble. Interesting detail though, only the large adult females do this. Males usually don't stridulate, males just bite. Different defensive strategies for different genders. A female this size could live another decade. 15 years total lifespan. And the male? Probably 4 years at most. She'll outlive 3 or 4 generations of her own mates. Tarantulas from the subfamily Ornithoptoninae are extremely hard to find. Not so much the fossorial ones like Pseudopogopus and Ornithoptonus, but the ones who live on trees. Pseudopogopus and Ornithoptonus build their burrows on the ground and you can easily spot their silked entrance on the forest floor. But searching for wild Homo thymus, Formingogilus, Lampropelma species, who are the arboreal genera of the subfamily, is probably the most difficult tarantula spider to find in the wild. But for now, let's head to Thailand. Different country, same story. This is Tikal Sok National Park. And this forest is older than the Amazon rainforest. When dinosaurs were walking around, this forest was already here. And most of the world's rainforest got wiped out by ice ages, but this far south, the ice never came. 160 million years old. Hey there. So, it's raining again, but so far no luck. And everything is muddy. And yeah, it's a pretty fun little walk here. So far, only a few spiders. Yeah. Now, this rainforest is home to elephants, sunbears, clouded leopards, gibbons, and somewhere in here, one of the rarest tarantulas on earth. Gilobrachys natanicharum, the electric blue tarantula. In 2023, scientists finally described this species after finding it in the mangrove forest of Phang Nga province, not far from here. First tarantula ever found in Thai mangroves. Here's the thing though, we've been to Thailand three times now looking for this spider. And every single time we came during rainy season. Turns out during dry seasons, these tarantulas are everywhere. People see them all the time. Easy to spot. But in rainy season, the forest is waterlogged. The mangroves are flooded. The spiders retreat into their tree hollows. And you're just walking around in one of the oldest rainforests on earth, finding absolutely nothing. So if I actually want to film a wild electric blue tarantula, I have to come back during dry season. Which means peak tourist season, highest prices of the year, biggest crowds, fighting for hotels with a thousand other visitors. All so I can crawl around the mangrove forest looking for a spider. But hey, that's the Up close, the blue isn't pigment. There's no blue molecule in this spider's body. It's structural coloration. Nanostructures in the hair that manipulate light. Same physics that make a morpho butterfly blue. The colors were this deep, iridescent blue-violet. It honestly makes me think of electrical sparks. I could stare at this thing for hours. And the species name, Natanicharum, was chosen through an auction. All proceeds went to support education for Lahu children in Northern Thailand and cancer patients. One of the rarest tarantulas on the planet, living in a forest that's 160 million years old. And its mangrove habitat is already being cleared for palm oil. That's why I keep coming back. This trip wasn't a total loss though. While we were failing to find the electric blue tarantula, we found this instead. Ornithoptonus aureotibialis, the Thailand golden fringe tarantula. See that golden stripe running down the legs? That's the namesake. Chat black body, velvety femurs, and that signature golden fringe. Old world tarantula, fossorial, fast, and not in the mood to be filmed. Not the spider I came for, but in a forest this ancient, you take what it gives you.