Happy Halloween my wicked and wild friends! There are lots of animals and insects we associate with being a bit 'scary' at this time of year so we've put them together in a picture- some scary some much friendlier! You can print it out at home and colour it in!

Click here to download

If the image appears in your browser, right click on desktop/hold finger down on mobile, to save to your files. Then open the jpeg and print.

What's Halloween really about?

So back in the da it was known as 'All Hallows Eve' and dates back over 2000 years to Celtic times. It used to symbolise the end of summer and the start of the cold winter months. On October 31st they would celebrate 'Samhain' where they believed the spirits of the dead would visit the earth. They would light bonfires and wear costumes to make sacrifices and offerings to the dead.

Over time it became blurred with All Saints Day, All Souls Day and then later when it hit American shores in the 1800s and eventually over the decades became the commercial celebration it is today.

What spooky species do we think of when we think of Halloween?

Well there's always some go-to creatures when we think of this time of year. Spiders and webs, bats, snakes, frogs and toads. Slimy and spindly, usually fond of hanging out in the night!

Here's our top 3 weird and wonderful picks!

1. The tarantula. 
One of the biggest spiders you'll find hanging around planet earth and found across the Americas and Africa. They are night hunters and actually dig burrows rather than spin webs. They use their silk to make a door over the entrance to their underground lair. 

2. The bat.
Bats are actually flying mammals and there are over 1000 species around the world. They also prefer to hang out at night - they are nocturnal - and they use echolocation to navigate in the dark. This is where they send out sound waves, that bounce off surfaces, telling the bat that there is something in their path. 'Vampire bats' are probably the most un-nerving to us humans as they feed on blood! (But don't worry, not ours)

3. The owl
OK so this one isn't particularly scary...but they are common in Halloween themes, usually hanging out with witches and wizards and cauldrons! Due to their special feathers, owls can fly silently making them deadly predators. They have extremely sharp talons, or claws, and can crush their prey easily and quickly. Lone creatures they patrol the nights keeping watch with their big eyes and amazing ability to rotate their heads nearly 180 degrees.

Have a spooky and fun Halloween folks! What are your favourite scary species?