Can spiders fly?

Spiders don't really fly; they "balloon" through the air on a long, fine strand of silk.They disperse by spinning strands of silk into the open air, which allows them to float through the atmosphere miles above the surface of the earth and out to sea far beyond the reach of land. One was caught at an altitude of 15,000 feet in a trap mounted on an airplane. These 8-legged kites can apparently survive 25 days without food during their aeronautical journeys.

More Info: blogs.discovermagazine.com

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24 Comments

George Oliver Prince

Several other sites say yes, but not in the normal thought of flying, so it depends on which interpretation you take

Sheryn Whitehurst

Confusing. Ballooning is flying to me.

Jhan Schmitz

Answer is yes

Charlie Chase

Poorly worded since whose definition of flying do you use. My definition says ballooning is flying.

tracewallace

If I grab a balloon and rise to 15,000 ft and land safely 100's of MILES from my starting point,,, Wouldn't one describe me as have "taken flight"?

Jerry Myers

The answer depends on how you define "flying". To me ballooning is Flying.. so the answer is YES> Do kites fly? Do helium filled balloons fly? If so then the answer is YES, not no.

Geoffrey Aronson

Kirk Tanaka, Kirk Tanaka, Kirk Tanaka, Kirk Tanaka, Helicopters fly and they don't have wings

john duckett

Definition of flying?

Janice Malsberry

Image result for Can spiders fly?fortune.com Spiders Can Fly Hundreds of Miles Using Electricity. ... Spiders have no wings, but they can take to the air nonetheless. They'll climb to an exposed point, raise their abdomens to the sky, extrude strands of silk, and float away. This behavior is called ballooning.