Athletes at Gabbs School get to see this painting of their school mascot each day. Creepy, isn't it?
Photo courtesy of improbableoptimisms.blogspot.com
Out in the Nevada desert lives a tiny school with a creepy, crawly mascot name that no other American school can lay claim to.
In
Gabbs (Nev.) they are the Tarantulas. As with many of the nation's unique mascot names, this one comes with a story that pretty much no other place in the nation can match.
Photo courtesy of laestrellitastore.net
Gabbs, with less than 300 residents, is one of the species favorite places to live. According to Margie Klein of Desert USA, it just so happens that Gabbs has the largest migration of tarantulas in the world. In the early fall, males trek for miles upon miles seeking mates, and that is essentially their only life goal.
The athletes at Gabbs School attend a school that features a hairy tarantula painted on the outside of one of the school's main buildings, and shirts for the school show a fearsome fanged spider with downright scary yellow eyes.
It's certainly a mascot name that opponents are likely to be scared of. But it's also a misunderstood spider.
According to the American Tarantula Society, male tarantulas are harmless to humans and most pets. They are venomous, but the amount is so insignificant that humans can withstand their bites. They definitely won't kill you if you are on the wrong end of a bite, though it's not exactly comfortable either.
But they are creepy and they are crawly, and that's reason enough for most people to fear the Tarantulas.
