Spider lovers scurry to Colorado as tarantula mating season gets under way

Hundreds of arachnophiles flock to La Junta to watch the creatures emerge in droves and look for love on the plains

Love is in the air on the Colorado plains - the kind that makes your heart beat a bit faster, quickens your step and makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up.

It's tarantula mating season, when male spiders scurry out of their burrows in search of a mate, and hundreds of arachnophiles flock to the small farming town of La Junta to watch them emerge in droves.