Did you know?

Baby spiders can fly high enough to hit the windshields of airplanes.

How do Baby Spiders Fly?

Baby spiders are called spiderlings. Most kinds of spiderlings prepare for flight soon after they emerge from their egg sac. They climb to the top of fence posts or other tall objects, tilt their bottoms upward. Then, from openings called spinnerets, gossamer threads of silk are shot upward and caught by a passing breeze which pulls the threads out of the spinnerets.

When the threads are long enough to provide enough surface area for the wind to push against for its weight, off go the threads and the attached spiderling. This is called ballooning.

A ballooning spiderling may travel only a short distance before being snared by tree branches or other structures. Some ballooning spiderlings are lifted by updrafts of air to great heights.

Some ballooning spiders get tangled in the webbing of other spiderlings.

Understanding More About Spiderweb Ballooning

The ballooning of spiderlings is similar to hot air balloons being swept along by winds and raised by updrafts.

For more information about spiderlings, see    SPIDERWEB BALLOONING