The Floating Wonders of Spiders

The phenomenon of spiders 'flying' or 'ballooning' is a spectacular sight.

But, it's not really flying; spiders use their silk to surf the wind.

They climb to a high point, raise their abdomen, extrude silk threads and float away.

This process allows spiders to travel up to hundreds of kilometers.

Young spiders primarily engage in this activity as it serves as a mode of dispersal from their birthplace.

But how can they fly on calm days? Mystery solved in 2018! Research showed that they can sense the Earth's electric field.

On calm days, they use atmospheric electrostatic forces for their voyages.

When spiders balloon, they adopt a tiptoe stance, extruding silk that repels away, creating enough force to lift them off.

They are not at the wind's mercy entirely - they can control their speed and direction by adjusting their bodies and silk extrusion.

Spider ballooning is sheer genius of nature's engineering!.