It may be sunny in California, but it is also ‘raining spiders.’
Residents along the Central Coast are reportedly seeing webs with spiderlings falling from the skies.
Several online videos show white structures floating in the air and sticking to the ground and buildings, which one local likened to the ‘fake spider web stuff that you buy at the Halloween store.’
While the incidents are bizarre, a biologist revealed that the ‘webbing’ is silk baby spiders spin to migrate to new habitats.
While the incidents are bizarre, a biologist revealed that the ‘webbing’ is silk baby spiders spin to migrate to new habitats
Banks said spiders will spin silk threads when they become frightened or run out of food, which are then caught in the wind and carried off to a new location.
‘It’s a special term we use for how spiders disperse from habitat to habitat,’ he said.
‘Most spiders, as you imagine, have trouble walking around the ground and getting across barriers such as Highway 1 or some of the structures we built.’
He also said that it could be an evolutionary practice for spiders living in areas where their food supply is uncertain, like farmland.
