CDOT and the Butterfly Pavilion have teamed up to perform research on tarantula movement patterns across Southeastern Colorado in an attempt to stop these sizable spiders from being squished. Each year, as autumn approaches and the weather begins to trend cooler, the plains in the Southeastern portion of the state seem to spring to life in a well-known and widely celebrated phenomenon that sees a multitude of Oklahoma Brown tarantulas scurrying about, searching for mates. While activity often peaks from mid-September through early-October, the Butterfly Pavilion states that mating activity can start as early as the end of August and run through the beginning of November. While often referred to as a 'migration,' experts at the Butterfly Pavilion explain that it would be more accurate to dub the annual happening as a 'mate'-gration as the male tarantulas are not leaving, but rather trekking across the grasslands in search of a female. WATCH: Tarantula Season: Why are the plains moving? The highly sought-after occurrence is most often spotted as these not-so-creepy crawlers are caught crossing roads, paths, and highways; these crossings, unfortunately, are also among the factors that often stop these arachnids from ever finding... love. WATCH: Tarantula Season: A spidery danceWith that in mind, starting in 2022, CDOT initiated a study in partnership with the Westminster-based Butterfly Pavilion; the goal of the study, according to CDOT, is to "...identify areas along our roadways with high tarantula densities and to use existing culverts within those areas to funnel the spiders beneath the roadways."To that end, the Butterfly Pavilion has been sending research techs to the areas surrounding La Junta and Lamar for the past two years in order to measure the population density and location of Colorado's prized tarantulas. "We want to know where they walk on the roads so we can protect them," commented Dr. Francisco Garcia Bulle Bueno, an entomologist and current target species manager for the Butterfly Pavilion. "So we are doing two things," he continued, "we're... doing road surveys and looking for male tarantulas crossing the roads and taking GPS points [on] where we see them, looking for patterns on where they are moving and the other thing we are interested in is doing burrow-density surveys; so we're looking for where we find these burrows."According to Dr. Garcia Bulle Bueno, while these tarantulas are not social creatures and do not share burrows, they do often tend to have 'neighbors,' meaning you'll often find their homes in clusters or "neighborhoods."WATCH: Tarantula Season: Living in neighborhoodsUtilizing data collected via ground-crew surveys, CDOT proceeded to install the aforementioned "small, plastic fencing" near culverts in the areas designated as having a high tarantula density. These efforts are part of an ongoing study to 1) better understand tarantula movement and 2) identify mitigation measures which could reduce wildlife vehicle collisions (WVCs) with the tarantulas and other small animal species in the shortgrass prairie. We hope that these first few years of data collection will give us some insight into the efficacy of the fencing. If we are able to effectively funnel the spiders and other small animals to use existing infrastructure as roadway crossings, we can then pursue additional grant funding in the future. With additional funding, we could build upon the current study and/or construct fencing at additional locations to reduce WVCs with small wildlife species.CDOT additionally stated that since the "migration" has captured more and more attention over recent years, an unfortunate side-effect has been an increase in "traffic and vehicle conflicts." Identifying areas of regular tarantula crossings would also assist CDOT in future efforts to alleviate vehicle conflicts by helping the agency to determine the best locations to construct future pull-outs, or small viewing areas.CDOT further encourages all those interested in viewing this wildlife phenomenon to follow the below steps to ensure a safe driving/spider watching endeavor: Beware of other vehicles that may be traveling at lower speeds Watch for vehicles pulling off the roadways, and vehicles parked on the roadside Find safe, designated areas to park Drivers be aware of pedestrians! People will be out of their vehicles, often taking photos Pedestrians should be extremely diligent and watch out for passing vehiclesIf you're interested in EVEN MORE spider-centric happenings, you can head on over to the Butterfly Pavilion which is hosting Spiders Around the World, a deep dive into the world of eight-legged critters, including 20 different species of tarantulas. For past coverage on the annual tarantula 'mate'gration, click here. __________Watch KOAA News5 on your time, anytime with our free streaming app available for your Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and Android TV. Just search KOAA News5, download and start watching.