World’s Largest Spiderweb Has Been Discovered

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00:00World's largest spider web has been discovered.

00:03If you've got even the slightest fear of spiders, this might be the stuff of nightmares.

00:08This massive web is home to more than 110,000 spiders coexisting in the darkness,

00:13weaving what's now being called the largest web structure ever documented.

00:17It was discovered inside the Sulphur Cave, a low-ceilinged, narrow passage about 50 meters from the entrance.

00:23The sprawling silk network is shared between two species,

00:26the common house spider, Teganaria domestica, and a much smaller cave-loving species called Pranarigone vagans,

00:34which measures only about 3 millimeters.

00:37In fact, experts are calling this the first documented case of communal behavior between two different spider species,

00:44something that goes against nearly everything we thought we knew about spider instincts.

00:48The researchers, led by Associate Professor Istvan Urak,

00:52believe the cave's unique, sulfur-rich environment may have influenced this bizarre behavior.

00:58Genetic testing shows that the cave-dwelling spiders are different from their surface-level counterparts.

01:05This discovery reminds us that we often assume we've figured out the natural world, Dr. Urak said,

01:10but nature still has surprises for us.

01:14And in places like this, behaviors and traits we thought we understood can take a very unexpected turn.

01:20Recent studies suggest that fear of spiders might be hardwired into human DNA.

01:26Highly venomous spiders were a serious threat in our ancestral environments,

01:30Joshua New, a Columbia University researcher, explained.

01:33Avoiding them could mean the difference between life and death.

01:37So, maybe that chill running down your spine isn't irrational at all.