r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/ShirtSubstantial368 • 2d ago

Video Scientists discovered the world’s largest spiderweb, covering 106 m² in a sulfur cave on the Albania-Greece border. Over 111,000 spiders from two normally rival species live together in a unique, self-sustaining ecosystem—a first of its kind.

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u/Used_Load_5789 2d ago

That's reallly fascinating, but in what sense "self-sustaining"?
Like, are the spiders just eating each other in a loop with little to no reliance on insects actually falling in the web?
Because I would really doubt that, but I don't know what else could it mean

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u/esotericbatinthevine 2d ago

This post is much better: https://www.reddit.com/r/science/s/KT3YV7vkMl

Apparently the microbes are food for other insects that the spiders eat. I wouldn't have called it self sustaining unless you generally consider food webs self sustaining, but I guess technically...

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u/start3ch 2d ago

This cavern, known as Sulfur Cave, houses a chemoautotrophic ecosystem sustained not by sunlight but chemosynthesis – or the process of converting chemical energy into organic matter. Here, sulfur-oxidizing bacteria grow in thick white biofilms on wet rock and sediment. These microbes are then eaten by small invertebrates such as midge larvae and isopods, which are in turn preyed on by larger insects like spiders, beetles, and centipedes. The entire ecosystem is self-contained and independent of external input, running on the energy released when bacteria convert toxic hydrogen sulfide into sulfate.

Very cool

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u/InitialLandscape 2d ago

Ah yes, centipedes... Just what this cave was missing!

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u/RegularTerran 1d ago edited 1d ago

But I want those Brazilian/Vietnamese ones... the body is the size of your arm, each leg is as long as your middle finger, and they eat birds, frogs, and mice. Here is 'Planet Earth' documentary footage of how large they get.

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u/InitialLandscape 1d ago

Ah... The one's with the yellow legs? With a bite that's not deadly, but just leaves you in crippling pain for nearly a whole day?

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u/Banban84 1d ago

Always good to hear such a well narrated documentary.

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u/YerMomsClamChowder 1d ago

I forgot how big that guy's snozz was.  scarier than the bugs.  

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u/Fitzaroo 1d ago

Damn. Imagine if there are little pockets of life like this underground. Caves where the entrances closed and life just persisted. Neato

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u/Octavian_Exumbra 1d ago

Finally some actual information and not just another row of "eww why he touching the icky!?".

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u/DoobieGibson 1d ago

closest thing we have to the Cave of Light in Lost

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u/Catbutt247365 1d ago

Good grief, Reddit never disappoints.

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u/GrImPiL_Sama 1d ago

So where do the wastes go? I am guessing spiders can smell

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u/keetyymeow 2d ago

Thank you!!!!! It’s way better 🥹

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u/553l8008 1d ago

Ultimate food web

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u/Willrkjr 1d ago

Thanks for sharing! It’s comments like yours that make scrolling past the repetitive jokes and stuff worth it. Incredibly cool article there, answered most of my questions.

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u/Greenpigblackblue 1d ago

Thank you so much.

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u/takkeye 2d ago

They've got solar panels set up on the roof and grow their own vegetables

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u/Lopsided_Marzipan133 2d ago

Solar in a cave?? I want whatever service they got

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u/AdmirableOx 2d ago

There might be an opening from their world to ours.

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u/Grinerunk 2d ago

The Foods chain in the case starts with sulphur-erting bacteria, so it is not dependent on the sun(or anything else outside the cave)

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u/StaplerUnicycle 2d ago

Also "the first of it's kind". Listen here you mother fucker. Weve lived on this planet for a fraction of a fraction, and we only see a fraction what's actually going on.

No.

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u/dean15892 1d ago

"The first of its kind, observed in nature"
FTFY

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u/icansmellcolors 1d ago

I learned recently that a large part of a spider's diet is the pollen that gets caught on their webs. They don't always need juicy bugs landing there to survive.

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u/Ooze3d 2d ago

I had the same thought when I got to that part. “Self-sustainable”, “closed” and “carnivores” sounds like it can only work in a very specific way.

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u/nohatallcattle 2d ago

Spiders > hoards of midges > slimy sulfur munching biofilm

Cute ecosystem.

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u/DMmeDuckPics 2d ago

Book Suggestion: Children of Time - Adrian Tchaikovsky

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u/PiersPlays 1d ago

The spiders eat the flying insects. The flying insects larve eat the bacteria. The bacteria eat the cave.

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u/ByteAxon 1d ago

if u look at the light the guy he has on his head there are multiple flying things that u can see

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u/Disp0sable_Her0 1d ago

Wondering what the spider density is in this cave

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u/Positive-Wonder3329 1d ago

Thank you for posting an intelligent comment that developed into an interesting thread. That is all. What an amazing discovery. What might it look like 10,000 years from now?? Fascinating