Deep underground in a dark, sulfuric cave on the border between Albania and Greece, scientists have made an incredible discovery – a giant communal spider web spanning more than 100 square meters (1,000 sq ft), dense enough to resemble a living curtain, home to an estimated 110,000 spiders. In…
Woah, could this actually turn spider silk farms viable?
Sounds like the conditions that allow for this are pretty specific, and while you could harvest this, it would likely decimate the population.
Could it be artificially recreated? Probably, but at that point it’s looped back around to being non-viable.
Yeah, the conditions are specific, but that’s also true for Wasabi and truffles. The big problem with spiders has always been their canabalistic and solitary natures. Truffles and Wasabi don’t kill eachother.
Also just because the biome is specific, doesn’t mean it’s necessary. Biggest issues are probably their immune system. Such isolated things are usually easily hit by fungus or bacteria.
I thought it was output that was the bottleneck.
I mean that’s the end result.
If they don’t get along then each one needs their own box/pen, which means they’re fed and harvested separately, which makes it hella inefficient.