Bizarre footage reveals tons of of spiders ‘raining down’ from the sky – as consultants clarify the racy motive why
This rare footage showing hundreds of eight-legged crawlies ‘raining from the sky’ has been explained as a bizarre and racy phenomenon.
Hundreds of spiders descended from the heavens in a scene that could be likened to snowflakes falling – but with eight real limbs.
The scenes which have now been shared online were captured on camera in Sao Thome das Letra, in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil.
Although the nightmarish scene baffled users online after being uploaded to social media, experts have explained the science behind the strange occurrence.
Biologist and experts flocked to provide context to the sky of spiders, divulging the droves of insects were on a very large web, mating in a ritual ‘orgy’.
One biologist, Kayron Passos, gave context to the situation via a local media news outlet.
He said: ‘It’s a spider orgy. The females have something called spermatheca, where they store the semen of different males to fertilise the eggs.
‘This way, the female ensures that she will have several different offspring and increase genetic variability.’

This rare footage showing hundreds of eight-legged creepy-crawlies ‘raining from the sky’ in what has been explained as a bizarre and racy phenomenon by experts

The scenes which have now been shared online were captured on camera in Sao Thome das Letra, in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil

Experts have since revealed that the spiders were in fact engaged in an orgy within a large web in the sky

Social media users have been left dumb-founded by the footage, dubbing it ‘spider heaven’
Passos further clarified that even after fertilising the eggs, the females continue to collect semen for later use.
He said: ‘This behaviour increases resistance, making these offspring more resistant to diseases.’
Arachnologist Ana Lucia Tourinho said that although spiders ‘don’t stay together’ certain species will display more ‘social behaviour.
The expert with a PhD in Biological Sciences said: ‘Spiders generally do not stay together, but some species exhibit this social behaviour of forming colonies.
‘The strategy of staying together in a group increases the food supply for the offspring and juveniles.’
The expert, who has been studying the creepy crawlies for nearly three decades added: ‘The colony usually forms every year, most of them in the colony are relatives, they are usually generations of mothers and daughters together, but after they mate they will disperse.’
Despite the scientific background, viewers were dumb-founded by the clip which was circulated by local press a month after it appeared online.
One onlooker dubbed it ‘spider heaven’, whilst another spoke of their own run-in with the natural occurence in real life.
‘It was in my brother’s backyard in Tiradentes. Always in the late afternoon. I was scared when I first saw it,’ they said.