Thick blankets of spiderwebs across the Gippsland region have been captured in amazing photos and videos shared online. Screenshot / Carolyn Crossley, Twitter
Thick blankets of spiderwebs across the Gippsland region have been captured in amazing photos and videos shared online. Screenshot / Carolyn Crossley, Twitter
Heavy rain and subsequent flooding in Victoria has resulted in a "spider apocalypse".
Thick blankets of spiderwebs across the Gippsland region have been captured in amazing photos and videos shared online.
The photographs were posted to Reddit with the caption "if the floods weren't enough, I give you, spider apocalypse".
The East Gippsland region was hard hit in last week's floods, which resulted in thousands of Victorians being evacuated from their homes.
Parts of #Gippsland are covered in #spider web??!! The little black dots are spiders. There is web as far as the eye can see. This is near Longford #Victoria thanks Carolyn Crossley for the video pic.twitter.com/wcAOGU9ZTu
— ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ท๐๐๐ (@mim_cook) June 15, 2021
Like humans, it appears the spiders have sought higher, dryer ground.
What's occurring is known as ballooning, where cooler weather conditions result in spiders covering stretches of land in cloudlike cobwebs in an attempt to shelter themselves from wet ground conditions.
The phenomenon is known as ballooning, where spiders cover stretches of land in cloudlike cobwebs to escape wet ground. Photo / jk409, Reddit
It's a temporary survival tactic that allows the creatures to continue to hunt while the ground dries out.
With more rain forecast for the end of this week, there's a chance the arachnids will continue to make their presence known.
