You might have read about the huge spider webs found in Lake Tawakoni State Park, Texas, US. The web covers a 180m (590ft) stretch of trees and shrubs in the park. The size of a football field! Scary stuff! Instead of giant human-sized spiders creating these huge webs, they are actually a massive group of small spiders, each from different familys of spiders.
It is still not known exactly why the spiders have done this, but it is thought that maybe each spider has spun webs to keep the other spiders away from them,Although the spiders do not seem to be aggressive in any way to eachother.
Scientists belive that the webs will only last until autumn as the spiders will die off. This area of the park has become a monumental-like place for visiters all over the world coming to see these amazing 'works of art' I like to call them.
Check out the information from the BBCHow come spiders in our country don't build webs like these in such masses? This is because the spiders there in Texas are called Tetragnathids, which we do not find in Ireland. If they were, I dont think they would last very long, as the average person is absolutely terrified of spiders! Still, what the spiders have done in Lake Tawakoni State Park, is really incredible.
In a way, these spiders are like travellers, they come along in a big group, take over a certain area, and fill the area with all their belongings, and then leave after a certain time. And will sure return in due course. Not that I have anything against travellers, they just have a very similar lifestyle to these texan spiders!
Below is a picture of a Tetragnathid courtesy of Professor Paul
And here is two videos of the master webs themselves in Lake Tawakoni State Park, Texas, US, courtesy of YouTube.com
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