Spiders are Some of the World’s Best Travelers

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Human beings aren’t the only creatures in this world that make a habit of traveling and changing location throughout there lives. While we may be the only species to actively travel for pleasure, leisure, and education, other species of animal travel vast expenses in the search of food, survival, and a safe place to give birth and raise their young. Many bird species throughout the world undergo massive migrations every year when it gets cold in an attempt to find a warmer climate in which to wait out the winter and give birth to their offspring. Whales also undertake this massive migration, as do herd animals in the north like caribou and and elk. However one of the most efficient travelers in the animal, other than humans, is completely unexpected: spiders.

It turns out that along with jumping, crawling, and flying, spiders are also sailing their way across our world’s oceans using a technique called “ballooning”. Small and young spiders engage in this “ballooning” by using their strong silks to create a balloon-like web that they use to catch the wind and propel themselves through the air and over terrain that would previously be impassable to them. By traveling up to 30 kilometers a day, these young spiders can spread themselves over vast distances, allowing for further propagation of the species and for new resources to be used and consumed.

One terrain that ballooning allows spiders to cross is entire oceans. That’s right, these tiny arachnids are using their webs to sail their way across massive bodies of water. These spiders can use their silk balloon as an anchor so that they can change direction, change speed, and even stop to float on water. How do these little adventurers stay alive while they’re undergoing these massive migrations? It turns out that they actively hunt while they’re sailing their way across the ocean. They continue to capture and eat insects and other invertebrates, as well as larger prey depending on the size of the spider. With skills such as this, it’s easy to see how spiders have become populous all over the world.

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