A cave scientist studies the giant spiderweb.
© Marek Audy
World’s Widest Web
Welcome to what some would call their worst nightmare! Last October, scientists announced that they had found the biggest spiderweb in the world. It’s deep inside Sulfur Cave on the border of Albania and Greece, two countries in Europe.
The web stretches about 1,140 square feet, making it bigger than most classrooms. The thick, spongy, carpet-like web is home to more than 110,000 spiders.
Urak et al./Subterranean Biology/Cover Images via AP Images
An estimated 69,000 barn funnel weaver spiders live in Sulfur Cave.
Life Without Light
Jim McMahon/Mapman®
Scientists discovered Sulfur Cave in 2022. The huge web inside was spun by two types of spiders: barn funnel weavers and sheet weavers. Normally, barn funnel weavers prey on the smaller sheet weavers. But Sulfur Cave is filled with countless flies that get trapped in the web. That provides enough food for the barn funnel weavers.
It’s rare for a pitch-black cave to support so much life. But Sulfur Cave is unusual. It’s filled with hydrogen sulfide—a gas that smells like rotten eggs. That stinky gas enables tiny living things called microbes to survive. They become food for the flies, which are then gobbled up by the spiders. The dark cave is also home to centipedes, bats, and scorpions.
Scientist Serban Sarbu has studied the cave. He’s glad it’s getting so much attention.
“People usually scream when they see one spider,” he says. “It’s fascinating that people have gotten excited about this huge spiderweb.”
