Garden Spiders

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Have you ever seen one of those world record attempts where a huge number of people try to cram into a Mini?  If you have, and you've watched them all slowly emerge afterwards, you'll have some idea of what it's like watching baby Garden Spiders crawling out of their egg sac.  The egg sac itself is no bigger than a pea and yet up to a thousand tiny brown and yellow spiderlings might emerge from it!

When they do all finally manage to clamber out they sit clustered together on their web, like a little ball of compressed energy waiting to explode in all directions.  If you want to see 8,000 little hairy legs burst into life all you have to do is gently blow on the cluster, or lightly tickle it with a blade of grass.  The spiderlings disperse in all directions like sparks from a firework.  When they think it's safe to return they get back together again in a tight little bundle.

The spiderlings remain like this until they've grown large enough to catch their own food and live independently.  When they're ready to leave the nest they release a strand of silk and wait for the wind to catch it.  This will lift them into the air and they land wherever the wind takes them, which can be several kilometres away.


More info at: UK Safari Garden Spiders Fact File