Spiders go for a Spin

IN May 2015, the Australian town of Albury in New South Wales woke up to what seemed like snow blanketing the ground. Only it wasn't snow. The white blanket was made up of millions of spider webs!

In what is called 'mass ballooning' or 'kiting', tens of thousands of tiny sheet-web or money spiders crawl up to a high point, say a tall stalk or fence post, and launch themselves into the sky with the help of a 'parachute' which they create from fine strands of spider silk. They are carried hither and thither by the breeze and land some distance away from where they started. Many of the surviving spiders (huge numbers are killed by harsh weather or eaten by predators) land in one place very near each other, which is when their webs form a carpet.

Scientists are not sure why the spiders take to the skies, but it may be to colonize new places. Heavy rain and flooding often forces spiders to take to the air and then come down on a floating trampoline of webs to escape drowning.

Ballooning is not unique to Australia; it has been observed in the US and Britain, but this spectacular natural event is still rare, and an example of one of the unusual uses of spider silk.