"After a brief foray into creatures big, flashy, and famous, we must return to form and focus on the spineless, creepy, and crawling. Today we're shining a spotlight on one of the most loathèd creepy-crawlers of all-the humble spider. You may fear them, what with their eight spindly legs and general can-do demeanor, but what if you found a little space in your heart, an open drawer or empty shelf,"
"We should begin with the actually breaking news, which is that in 2022 scientists went spelunking in Sulfur Cave along the border of Albania and Greece and stumbled upon a spider web half the size of a tennis court, and is home to at least 111,000 spiders. The discovery, which was published recently in the journal Subterranean Biology, is remarkable."
"Not only does it represent a rare model of a harmonious group that we could certainly learn from, but it also represents the largest spider web in the world. I find this latter fact oddly reassuring, as it places a known upper limit on just how large a spider web has gotten. It's likely that there are larger webs out there, but the fact that we have not found them yet means I am less likely to encounter them in my day-to-day life."
Spiders often provoke fear but can also receive empathy through small acts of tolerance and sheltering. Observations emphasize spiders' ubiquity and varied webs, including communal webs of extraordinary scale. In 2022, spelunkers in Sulfur Cave on the Albania–Greece border discovered a web spanning half a tennis court and housing at least 111,000 spiders. The find, published in Subterranean Biology, constitutes the largest known spider web and models group harmony. The discovery establishes an observed upper limit on known web size while leaving open the possibility of yet larger, undiscovered webs in subterranean or remote habitats.
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