14 DAY TRIAL // More than ten years ago, as experts were investigating a cave system near the UK town of Yorkshire Dales, some of the team members used a nearby abandoned home to store their equipment when not in use. Unaware, they were also transporting spiders to the house. The stowaway passengers were hiding in the bags, and apparently a sufficiently large number of them were carried to the new location to allow for a new colony to be set up. Since then, the spiders taking up residence in the abandoned house have grown to impressive numbers, the BBC News reports.
Now, experts from the National Trust's Malham Tarn estate, in North Yorkshire, aided by volunteers, are planning to start moving the large spiders back to their original habitat, in the nearby Chapel Fell cave. Aided by volunteers, the experts are planning a large family reunion for the arthropods, which measure in excess of seven centimeters in length each. They argue that the move is for the best, and that the building no longer provides a safeheaven for the multi-legged creatures.
The disused house is scheduled to enter renovation, and is to be used by visiting schoolchildren and walkers, officials report. Naturally, the visitors can't have the huge spiders jumping on their heads, and the National Trust selected the best option for them under the circumstances. “The time has come for the cave spiders to be relocated back to their natural homes,” National Trust property manager Martin Davies says. Representatives from two species – Meta menardi and the related Meta bourneti – can be found in the house. They are rarely observed outside their natural habitats, biologists explain, as the creatures have a natural adversity to light.
Moving 150 spiders is not as easy as it may seem, and that's the main reason why researchers turned to a device known as a “pooter” to get the job done. The instrument allows the scientists to use a hose that essentially sucks the spiders gently into a container, without harming them. Once captured, they are placed in individual boxes, and then released one by one in the caves. The researchers say that they will not forget about the creatures once the move is complete. “We have plans to use a small outbuilding as a spider house, with a window on their mysterious world,” Davies concludes.