I have never seen this before. It’s an interesting reminder that insects as well as people make a positive effort to go to higher ground to escape flooding. In this instance it almost seems that the spiders are on a par with humans in the way they are committed to finding a way to avoid drowning. We normally don’t pay any attention at all to insects during flooding and yet here they are in their swarms struggling to get to higher ground, to survive.
Insect respiration takes place by passive diffusion into and out of a network of tracheal tubes. They have ‘book lungs’. They are vulnerable to drowning.
Shenae and Steve Varley witnessed spiders covering ‘the entire length of the railing that is not under water at the Penrith Weir in western Sydney (YouTube video seen below):
Videos from YouTube have a tendency of disappearing over time which means they stop working! Sorry if that has happened but I can’t control it.
Here are 2 Facebook posts from Matt Lovenfosse:
All the brown you can see is Spiders trying to beat the flood water.
Video – https://youtu.be/Pd5KcsbcLWwPosted by Matt Lovenfosse on Sunday, March 21, 2021
Here’s a Video of the spiders I posted a photo of earlier today,
They are only a couple meters off the back fence now.
Full video here https://youtu.be/Pd5KcsbcLWw
Posted by Matt Lovenfosse on Sunday, March 21, 2021
This image might disappear one day too so here it is again! 🙂 —
Comment: Aww poor spiders! – I agree. Let’s think of the insects too.
SOME MORE ON INSECTS:
