Halloween is literally in the air in Dallas.
A rain of spiders is something typically thought of in the Halloween season, but Dallas residents may be getting the Halloween feels too early.
Clouds of creepy cobwebs have been seen floating about in Dallas skies this week, sticking to cars, trees, and people's hair.
Dallas Zoo invertebrate keeper Tim Brys tells media as well as spider-fearing citizens that the phenomenon could be attributed to the birthing season of baby spiders.
"Often in the fall, you have baby spiders of various species that, something triggers them to hatch and then, directly after hatching, they'll spread a long silk line out behind their abdomen. The wind catches that and lifts them into the air like a balloon."
"The process is actually called 'ballooning' and it helps spread them out," he adds. "It helps cut down on competition because they're being spread to different areas."
The Dallas Zoo has been overcome with inquiries from alarmed and curious residents who report sightings of ghostly strands measuring a few inches up to about ten feet in length floating about in midair.
Zoologists have said that the ballooning phenomenon is not exclusive to Dallas, but happens wherever spiders live.
"It happens every year, pretty much, but we normally don't notice it as much as we have this year," Brys says. "What I've been told is the weather conditions have caused the ballooning spiders to not be able to balloon as far or as well, and that their lines are probably getting tangled up as they're blowing."
Some species of the ballooning spiders are poisonous, but experts tell worried Dallas residents not to worry, as the baby spiders are too young to have poison in their venom.
Experts also say people need not worry with having spiders crawling all over them-while there will be thousands of baby spiders in the air, they will be too small to be of any concern.
"Most people will never see these spiders and will never even know they were there because they're so small," says Brys, "So there's really nothing to worry about, and there's really nothing you have to do about it."
© 2017 Jobs & Hire All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
