The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County’s (NHM) fall highlight Spider Pavilion is open daily from Sunday, Oct. 30 through Sunday, Dec. 11.

(photo courtesy of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County)

At the Spider Pavilion, guests can immerse themselves in the spiders’ habitat and witness the day-to-day lives of the often misunderstood creatures. A Spider Den will house different species, including a pink toe tarantula and jumping spider. Inside the pavilion, visitors can walk among orb weavers and their webs while learning from gallery interpreters about arachnids.

The pavilion joins the museum’s outdoor Nature Gardens and indoor Nature Lab, where visitors can learn about insects and other species in the urban environment. Residents can participate in a Spider Survey as part of the Urban Nature Research Center’s citizen science initiative, which asks citizen scientists to collect the spiders they find in their homes, gardens and neighborhoods, observe their characteristics and fill out a data sheet, and bring the spiders to NHM. Museum scientists are completing research on the diverse urban spider population in the city. Nearly 6,000 individual spiders found throughout Los Angeles County have been discovered and submitted through the Spider Survey.

The Spider Pavilion is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. NHM is located at 900 Exposition Blvd. For information, call (213)763-3218, www.nhm.org.