Sydney Is Swarming With Spiders Thanks to Warm Weather

Arachnophobes with travel plans to Australia may want to reconsider: warm weather has led to a surge in Sydney’s spider population this season.

The humidity and warmth at the start of summer this year provide ideal breeding conditions for insects such as moths, which has dramatically improved food supplies for spiders and their chances of survival. With so many more eggs reaching adulthood, there have been multiple generations of spiders this year already, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

David Brock, search and discovery manager at the Australian Museum, said the booming populations are not harmful to people, and even control the insect populations — but their webs are found much more frequently.

“With the golden orb spiders, they can colonize whole trees,” Mr Bock told the Morning Herald.