Spiders Fight for Survival in a Sea of Wagga Wagga Webs
Thousands of spiders in Wagga Wagga have woven a vast web network in accessible paddocks in a desperate bid for survival amid rising floodwaters.
With the swelling of Murrumbidgee River in NSW's Riverina region, the spiders were driven by instinct to set their dwelling on higher ground, inadvertently creating a stunning sight for man.
Australian Associated Press photographer Lukas Coch said he was "amazed by the beauty of the webs" at Cartwrights Hill Tuesday afternoon, Nineman reports.
"It was five o'clock in the afternoon, we had nice sunlight and the spider webs were waving with the wind," he said.
An unusual sight, the spiders' vast web has drawn the attention of the locals, who come to the site with their families for a rare visual treat.
Australian Museum spider expert Graham Milledge explained the movement as the spiders' coping mechanism: the spiders go "ballooning" when they spew out a thread of silk that catches in the wind and carries them through the air.
"Juvenile spiders do it as a way of dispersing but it also seems to be associated with flood events," Mr. Milledge told Nineman.
"The spiders are just trying to escape the floodwaters. It's their way of getting away. Sometimes it doesn't work very well if they all end up in the same place."
Mr. Milledge said the vast web are not meant to last long, as the spiders will go back to their natural ways once the threats of flooding have subsided.