(KRON) — Native residents in Morgan Hill, Gilroy, and Capitola despatched KRON4 images and movies this week of mysterious objects falling on their neighborhoods.
Morgan Hill resident Gina Watson shot photos of unusual, white webby objects that fell “from my home all the way in which to work,” she mentioned.
John E. Banks, an environmental sciences professor at California State College Monterey Bay, mentioned the objects are possible silky webs created by spiders which are ballooning. “Nobody has definitively found out what they’re, however they seem like spider silk,” Banks advised KRON4.
“A few of these sightings have been so faraway that persons are questioning, why we’re seeing these suddenly?” Banks mentioned.
Ballooning is a ability a number of spiders species use to journey from one habitat to a different. A spider will weave its personal parachute or “balloon” and drift by way of the sky with assist from wind, Banks defined. The spider is carried by the wind with hopes of reaching a location that provides plentiful meals.
Ballooning helps spider populations from dying out when there’s not sufficient meals in a sure location. “Evolutionarily, it’s a very sensible technique for spiders that stay in an unstable setting, like farmland,” he mentioned.
Banks mentioned there are between 45,000 – 50,000 species of spiders on the planet, they usually play an vital function in retaining an ecological steadiness.
