Spiders can fly thousands of miles exploiting Earth's electric fields, search results: Animals: Nature World News

Jul 08, 2018 10:16 PM EDT

Spiders can float for thousands of miles using their floss, but there is not only to use their intricate web like a parachute .

Ballooning: The Basics

In a process called ballooning, arachnids fly upward at a relatively high elevation, lifting their abdomen, producing silk, and floating for miles and miles. kilometers.

An easy explanation is that the wind just carried the "balloon", but as the Atlantic notes, it does not make much sense since spiders only get in the air in small time. These light breezes are unlikely to provide sufficient elevation and acceleration for adult spiders, especially over long distances.

Now, a new research provides a clue: the Earth's electric field is closely related to the ability to fly from the arachnid.

Spiders fly with electrical aid

The study, published in the journal Current Biology reveals that spiders can respond to the electric field and use it during the ballooning process. We do not know yet if electric fields are needed to allow the swelling of spiders, "says Erica Morley of Bristol University in a statement. "We know, however, that they are sufficient."

The Earth's electrical circuit is still present, caused by the storms that occur every day in the world. On a bright, sunny day, the charge or atmospheric potential gradient can be about 100 volts per meter above the ground. During storms or when there are heavy clouds, this can reach 10 kilovolts per meter

To see if spiders react to this electrically charged field, Morley and his colleague Daniel Robert brought spiders from the Erigone kind to the laboratory where there are no other stimuli that can stimulate its flight such as air movement. Then, the team turned on and off the electric fields in order to see the reaction of the spiders

They discovered that spiders were reacting to electric fields similar to the APG by making hot air balloons. In particular, the tiny sensory hairs on the exoskeleton of spiders called trichobothria move in response to electricity in the air. Morley and Robert suggest that spiders actually detect the electric field

Once the spiders are in the air, turning on and off the electric field, they forced them to float up and down.

to help scientists more accurately predict swelling behavior in spiders and other animals with abilities such as caterpillars and spider mites

Fibers also a significant factor

Excluding the circuit Electricity of Earth

A study published in PLOS Biology last June explains that contrary to the belief that adult spiders use only a few thick fibers to inflate, they actually produce two different types: a few strands of a thickness and dozens of thinner fibers. This unique combination is enough to carry a heavy spider for miles and miles.