More than 100 poisonous tarantulas have arrived in New Zealand ahead of a tour of the country's zoos and museums.
Wellington Zoo will be the first to feature the 106 spiders, comprising six different species.
"They are such cool, amazing creatures. You can see things on a tarantula that you can't see on a house spider," said Wellington Zoo collections manager Simon Eyre.
Their journey began as "spiders on a plane," imported from Wales and costing $15,000. But being potential cannibals, they have been individually packed.
They will be shared between six New Zealand zoos and museums and eventually bred to create a sustainable tarantula population.
Another 30 tarantulas, which are endangered, are due to arrive here in the next two months.
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