Parachuting Spiders Leave Australian Region Covered In Webs

A sea of silk engulfed an area in Australia's southeast hit by flooding earlier in June, caused by sheet web spiders looking for shelter.

An arachnid invasion left swathes of Australia's Gippsland region covered in webs as the spiders sought higher ground to escape flooding. A sea of silk engulfed an area in Australia's southeast hit by flooding earlier in June, caused by sheet web spiders that normally live on the ground looking for shelter according to ecologist Dieter Hochuli. "When we get these types of very heavy rains and flooding, these animals who spend their lives cryptically on the ground can't live there anymore, and do exactly what we try to do -- they move to the higher ground," Hochuli, from the University of Sydney, told local broadcaster Channel 7. Spiders are known to release webs to create makeshift parachutes and ride the wind to change location, a phenomenon known as ballooning.