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From all of the nastiest natural phenomenons that you could think about, this one may not come to your mind as quickly. Still, if you think about it, it really is disturbing. Especially if you have arachnophobia and since this is one of the most largely spread phobias all over the world, you might likely have it. Even if scientists have not yet identified the precise factors which determine our fear of spiders, maybe the long numerous legs, the hairy back and the multitude of demonic eyes that most of the spiders feature represent some of the principal reasons. A small town in Australia has to resist to a spider invasion from the sky and rise back from underneath the endless web populated by spider babies, which, surprisingly or not, even if you take into account that they are babies, they are not cute at all. Imagine how badly it would ruin the `Charlie bit me` phrase if Charlie was a baby spider falling from the sky. Indeed, Charlie, you should stop, it really hurts. But if you can go on with the story about the spider invasion and want to find out why it rains spiders in Australia, here are some facts to offer an explanation.
If you look at the sky at the time when the spiders are falling to the land, it looks like they are flying somewhere. Actually, they are not technically speaking flying. What they do is float until they fall on the ground, using a web made parachute to accomplish a migration phenomenon. Pretty much similar to the situation in Chicago, because yes, they have spider rains in Illinois as well. But in Australia people call it `ballooning`.
“The whole place was covered in these little black spiderlings and when I looked up at the sun it was like this tunnel of webs going up for a couple of hundred metres into the sky,”
commented Ian Watson, who is a resident of Gouldburn, Australia, while talking with a Sydney Morning Herald reporter.
Martyn Robinson, a researcher affiliated to the Australian Museum has offered to the Sydney Morning Herald a more scientific explanation. It looks like the spiders have firstly climbed to the top of the trees and other vegetation. From there, they have jumped in the air and used a parachute like tool made from their silk in order to travel over long distances, by using the breeze. How fancy.
Image Source: The Telegraph
