Hong Kong is crawling with spiders, but don't be scared

Hong Kong is home to more than 100 species of spiders, according to a green group. It has compiled a new online database on the creatures.

Outdoor Wildlife Learning Hong Kong organised an 18-month research project carried out by more than 800 volunteers. It allowed the group to find 100 spider species, but many more could be added later. 

"Our biggest hope is to help with people's fear of spiders," says Ken So, an education manager with the wildlife group.

"Through this scheme, we would also like to help enrich people's understanding of Hong Kong's biodiversity. Not only about popular creatures such as birds and dragonflies, but also about animals like spiders."

Outdoor Wildlife Learning held the habitat survey between December 2020 and May 2022, on mountain trails all over Hong Kong. 

The volunteers, including students from primary schools, collected 4,783 spider records from 33 families of spiders.

"Although the volunteers had no knowledge of this kind of science, the quality of their work was very high," So says. "They explored different nooks and crannies, and they collected rich information for us."

The database includes photos of the species, as well as details of their size, web-building and other behaviours. In the photo, you can see a tiny and colourful "bottle-brush iridescent jumping spider".

The survey discovered two spider families, the "ghost" and "trachelid", neither of which were known to live in Hong Kong. It also found a new kind of fishing spider which had never been seen before.

"Spiders are very important," says spider expert Timothy Yip. The number of spiders shows the health of the ecology. If spiders find a place too difficult to live in, they will migrate to another habitat.

Five things to know about

1. Spiders are members of the arachnid family, which also includes scorpions, mites and ticks.

2. They are not insects, because insects have six legs, but spiders have eight. Insects have three body segments, but spiders have only two.

3. Spiders are very light. An adult human is more than 250,000 times heavier than a normal spider!

4. Some spiders hunt their prey and pounce on it. But most spiders spin webs so they can catch their prey. Different spiders weave different shapes of web.

5. Some small spiders use their web silk to travel in the air. This floating in the air is called ballooning. The wind catches their shooting silk, helping these spiders glide to a new home!