Spiders always seem to find a way to reach unforeseeable places. You will find a spider just about anywhere on land, but they can't go in the water...right? Think again. Scientists have recently discovered that "spider dancing," also known as spider sailing, is a part of the "ballooning" process and allows the animals to travel across water, according to Live Science.
Unfortunately, for the spider, they do not have control over which direction the wind will take them. In a worst case scenario, the spider will land on water. Before this discovery, scientists thought that spiders in water would always end up dead. But according to Morito Hayashi, team leader of the zoology department at the Natural History Museum of London, spiders can now glide across water.
Hayashi and his team focused on 325 adult spiders ranging 21 different species, according to Gizmodo. Oddly enough, they all had "water resistant" legs that were suitable for sailing across water without sinking. The team of researchers found that the spiders used six different postures to carry themselves across the water. Sailing, anchoring, and an abdomen glide are a few of the more notable postures used by the spiders.
"Ballooning" is a method that many species of spiders use to transport themselves. A spider will often go to the highest point of a plant, stick their spinnakers out and release a long strand of silk. Ideally, a gust of wind will capture the silk strand and carry it into the air, along with the spider. A ballooning spider can travel up to 20 miles a day, Nature World News reports.
There is not a mountain too high, or valley too low, nor a river wide enough to keep a spider away from you. You can run, but you can't hide.
