This fabulous looking spider is a CHACO GOLDEN KNEE TARANTULA which in the wild would be found in parts of Paraguay and Argentina (including the northern Argentinian province of Chaco, hence its common name).  This is one of my favourite tarantula species and a very beautiful one I'm sure you'll agree, with wonderful golden stripes on its 'knees' (hence the other part of its common name) - this one is named Fluffy!

You can see the lovely gold striping clearly in this picture, it really does make for a strikingly beautiful spider!

Like all tarantulas Fluffy has eight eyes positioned in a small cluster at the front of the carapace (head area), some of which can be seen here:

Despite having eight eyes a tarantula's vision is very poor and instead of seeing well they have very sensitive hairs all over their body which are used to detect the tiniest vibrations through the air or on the ground.  These hairs provide them with an early warning system when danger (for example a predator) approaches and also the ability to detect prey animals in their environment so that they can rush towards them ready to attack! 

Despite having large fangs and a venomous bite for killing her prey, Fluffy absolutely never bites me!  As long as a tarantula does not feel threatened or in any kind of danger it will be very reluctant to bite and I handle Fluffy and all my other tarantulas regularly without any concern for my safety.  Despite their fearsome reputation the bite of most tarantulas is not particularly dangerous to people anyway, the effect of their venom being roughly equivalent to a bee sting.

I do not allow other people to handle Fluffy or any of my other tarantulas, partly due to their venom but mainly due to their extreme fragility.  If a tarantula is dropped from even a small height the chances of serious injury or death are very high due to their delicate abdomen, which can easily rupture or even burst when it comes into contact with any surface following a fall.  Fluffy and my other tarantula friends are far too important to me for this risk to be taken!