Big and scary-looking Joro spiders have spread from Asia to the southern United States and are now poised to colonize the country's cooler climes—but they're nothing to fear and might end up actually helping local ecosystems.
That's according to scientists who have been studying the arachnid invaders since they first arrived in Georgia around 2013.
"The reason we got involved in this project was because they literally fell in our lap," Andy Davis, an ecologist at the University of Georgia, told AFP on Friday.Davis set about studying the new resident, comparing it to the golden silk spider, which came to the southeastern United States some 160 years ago from the tropics.
The Joro spider's metabolic rate is about double that of its cousin, its heart beats 77 percent faster, and it can survive brief freezes. They also grow faster. They're also adept at gliding—spinning webs that act like parachutes and catch air currents—allowing them to fly up to 100 miles .
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