- Science has (gasp) backed up claims made by locals that it’s “raining spiders” in Australia!
- Goulburn resident Ian Watson used a community Facebook page to ask whether anyone else was experiencing “angel hair” or “hundreds of little spiders falling from the sky”.
- Ian said that spiders could be seen 100 metres from the ground and that the web falling from the sky was a “cotton-like substance” that covered his home, which made it look like it had been taken over by spiders.
- Chillingly, Ian said he couldn’t walk outside without getting spider webs in his beard!
- Unfortunately (for aracnophobes), naturalist Martyn Robinson has confirmed that such an event is possible and is likely explained by a migration technique used by spiders called “ballooning”, where baby spiders climb to the top of tall vegetation and release silk balloons to be carried by the wind.
- According to comments made to the Sydney Morning Herald, spiders can travel up to 3km in this manner, which explains why spiders are found on every continent – even Antarctica!
- Martyn noted that in some years the mass migration of spiders has caused entire fields and paddocks to be covered in “gossamer” or “angel hair”.
- Martyn said angel hair could also arise after heavy rains or floods, where spiders tend to throw “silk” lines to pull themselves out of the water.
- So, it’s official – it’s raining spiders and I’m never leaving home again…