Why are 10,000 giant spiders on the loose in the UK?

A rare, mammoth spider species is making a comeback in the United Kingdom, but scientists say there’s little need for fear.

This week, several newspapers and tabloids in the United Kingdom published claims that 10,000 mammoth spiders, which some said were as big as rats, had been let loose across the country.

One report in the tabloid the Daily Mail read: “Thousands of giant spiders ‘the size of a human hand’ are on the loose in the UK after a zoo decided to let them run free.”

However, scientists have since clarified that while thousands of spiders were intentionally bred and released years ago, they are not “running free” and are not as big as is being claimed.

Here’s what we know about how this tale was spun and the real story behind it:

In August, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and a host of other conservation societies announced that great raft spiders (also known as fen raft spiders), which are classified as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and as “Nationally Rare” in the UK, were making a comeback in parts of the country.