Trees cocooned in spiders webs, an unexpected side effect of the flooding in Sindh, Pakistan

Posted by on Nov 13th, 2013 and filed under Gallery. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

Trees cocooned in spiders webs, an unexpected side effect of the flooding in Sindh, Pakistan
Natural Health
Image by DFID – UK Department for International Development
An unexpected side-effect of the flooding in parts of Pakistan was that millions of spiders climbed up into the trees to escape the rising flood waters.

Because of the scale of the flooding and the fact that the water took so long to recede, many trees became cocooned in spiders webs. People in this part of Sindh had never seen this phenomenon before – but they also reported that there were less mosquitos than they would expect, given the amount of stagnant, standing water that was around.

One theory is that mosquitos may have been caught in the spiders webs, which would be one blessing for the people of Sindh, facing so many other hardships after the floods.

UK aid – in response to the Pakistan floods – helped millions of survivors return home and rebuild their lives.

Find out more about the UK government’s response to the Pakistan floods at www.dfid.gov.uk/pakistan-floods-six-months

Picture: Russell Watkins/Department for International Development

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60 Responses for “Trees cocooned in spiders webs, an unexpected side effect of the flooding in Sindh, Pakistan”

  1. heartbeeps says:

    AWESOME! Saw this in The Guardian’s G2 section this morning, and posted it on my blog. I’m pretty sure that’s where New Scientist picked it up. This photo had 65 views at the time.

  2. Rubytoes says:

    as above! amazing image 🙂

  3. Martin Ystenes says:

    Wow!

    Very interesting information, too!

    faved and galleried

  4. guihsd says:

    muito interessante !

  5. ángeles_gm says:

    awesome!!

  6. anadelagua says:

    Ahhhhhg…Curioso,muy curioso.

  7. Daniel Rocal says:

    Very interesting, useful, and creepy.

  8. alassie85 says:

    :O

  9. isamoa says:

    Extraño!

  10. [-A-A-] says:

    this is amazing!

  11. no*dice says:

    nasty!

  12. roxana_arc1 says:

    love it! is so surreal

  13. :: José Ramón :: says:

    Impresionante !!!

  14. digital-showdown says:

    This is pretty amazing.

  15. johanscm50 says:

    que bueno!!! 😀

  16. Cor & Asociados says:

    awesome!!!

  17. jhccheng says:

    incredible.

  18. {Nelly Rodriguez} says:

    scary looking! great photo and info.

  19. David Alviz says:

    Impressive… nice shot!

  20. L5LiNks says:

    amazing!

  21. Furhan H! says:

    Kind of like cotton candy made out of fungi.

  22. sashatlhs says:

    reminds me of that scene from the first Shrek

  23. land_camera_land_camera says:

    it looks more like it was caused by web worms. http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=...

  24. umer_2 says:

    Blessing in Disguies

  25. Baccarita says:

    Kind of scary… but amazing capture 🙂

  26. cashewnut10 says:

    wow this is so interesting…

  27. generalhafeezah says:

    has anyone thought of GOD Yet? How many signs of warning do we need? Birds Falling from the skies all over the world, various species of fish popping up dead along the shore, wars and rumors of wars around the earth, Earthquakes, tsunamis and hurricanes. And yet we still spend time, watching Jerry Springer and wrap out heads around drinking and getting highas a past time. Boy! we are in trouble!

  28. jess.wistoft says:

    That’s just fascinating. And beautiful.

  29. i'm on trouble says:

    IncreÍBle

  30. homeman says:

    Wicked!

  31. skylcort says:

    Similar thing happened in Texas. There was a huge surge in insects and the spiders suddenly started cooperating.

  32. bovinemagnet says:

    very interesting.

  33. zebarnabe says:

    looks surreal … :] nice grab and thanks for sharing

  34. Boogiethemann says:

    I wonder if my son would climb that tree

  35. lalie sorbet says:

    Fantastic !!!

  36. Chenchuan says:

    that is great i can use flickr in China now ,i love my country

  37. Chenchuan says:

    something not so good may happened in 2012,
    mybe should go to tibet,china to survive

  38. DerrickT says:

    !!!!!!!!!!!

  39. Omar_Gurnah says:

    Incredible!!!

  40. Peter Tikhomirov says:

    This is unbelievable. I wanna be there! I wanna see it

  41. Rey Cuba says:

    this is not only a wonderful story, but a great photo

  42. guiltypleasure13 says:

    ewww. nice and interesting, but still, EEWWW

  43. powkang says:

    i’m so disgusted and fascinated.

  44. maruxa fotografía says:

    Impresionanta foto e historia

  45. Dvemp says:

    "i’m so disgusted and fascinated."
    +1

  46. fuzzylogic55 says:

    surreale…

  47. Jose Joao Silva says:

    +++++

  48. copialibre says:

    la naturaleeza enseñando de nuevo…………

  49. cevebe says:

    Very cool shot, but is it really caused by spiders?

    I have seen this phenomenon in Sweden a couple of times and then it was caused by the Bird-cherry Ermine, which is a small moth.

  50. Massimo De Dominicis says:

    Grazie! Ho visto la tua foto nel gruppo/Thanks! I saw your picture in the group PHOTOGRAPHY IS LIFE

    Photography is LIFE - View this group's most interesting photos on Flickriver

  51. Tally72 says:

    scary for me that I have phobia for them mmm

  52. Vianys Joplin says:

    Wow! this is really interesting!, shows God’s intelligent creation.
    thanks for sharing ;D

  53. Raiyan Kamal says:

    I wonder whether the spiders will climb down once the water recedes, or will they stay where they are ?

  54. husi... says:

    Asombrosa!!

  55. elswa1 says:

    arachnophobiac!!!!!! And I realy feel emphathy for anyone living in Sindh with this condition…..cause i will honestly not survive …. and will most probably die of sleep deprivation…… If you have this condition and stay in Sindh, you are welcome to come in contact with me via facebook (name: Elriza Swanepoel")……MEAN WHILE…..GOOD LUCK ,STAY ALERT AND BE SAFE…..!!!!

  56. Jeff Wieser says:

    wow amazing photos

  57. Dereckson says:

    Thanks for licensing this image as CC-BY! Your choice of a free license has allowed us to use your image in Wikimedia Commons. The image is now used to illustrate Pavouci po povodních obalili pákistánské stromy do pavučin Czech Wikinews article and is available for other free knowledge projects.

  58. KJ3 "name already taken" says:

    Anyone read "The Web" by John Wyndham?

  59. jonwa60 says:

    Very full of spiders. Wow.

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