Foraging success is a crucial factor in survival and reproductive success for many animals. One mechanism that can improve an organism’s foraging success is foraging plasticity, or the organism’s ability to alter their behavior in response to environmental changes. This study aims to evaluate if the Colorado Brown Tarantula, Aphonopelma hentzi, a long-lived, sit-andwait predator will use foraging plasticity in response to increased prey encounters. I predicted that tarantulas with more prey encounters will have a higher body condition index, shorter foraging duration, and shorter distances traveled from the burrows. I conducted a field study on A. hentzi in their natural habitat in La Junta, Colorado. I compared a group of tarantulas that received supplemental feeding to a group of tarantulas and compared them to a nonsupplemented control group using video-tracking to determine behavior. As hypothesized, the supplemented tarantulas had increased body conditions, lower foraging duration, and did not travel as far from burrows. Additional behavioral observations were also scored, pertaining to repeated prey capture and novel object interactions. The ability for tarantulas to alter foraging behaviors in response to environmental stimulus could have important implications on how they can tolerate changes in the environment, which could be necessary in the face of habitat disturbances and climate change.
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