Monster Spider Webs Blanket Australian Town

In what one resident calls “a freak of nature,” a town in Australia has been blanketed in spider webs after recent floods forced millions of arachnids out of the nests.

“To me, it’s absolutely beautiful,” says Dr. Ken Walker, an entomologist who specializes in spiders. He says the webs are the result of the spiders’ efforts to abandon their nests for higher, dryer ground — which each spider does by launching a silk wire from the ground to tall plants and trees, latching onto them as if the web was equipped with a grappling hook. He says the leftover webbing looks like “a silken blanket that undulates throughout vegetation.”

Not everyone shares Walker’s enthusiasm, however. Resident Marco Brunel says he found it to be nothing short of horrifying when he gazed upon his web-covered property for the first time. “I didn’t know what to think when I first saw it,” Bruno says. “It was like a freak of nature.”

‘Spectacular’ silken spider webs blanket Gippsland town after floods – Theage / More stories at https://t.co/hkcunoILr5 https://t.co/MM2SkVwy17

— NWSFD (@NWSFDdotcom) June 16, 2021