pablo jaye wrote:I’ve been sat in the garden over the past few mornings and evenings watching the swifts fly around munching away on insects and it got me wondering how high insects can actually fly, as the swifts seem pretty high.
I think the more developed insects, such as bees and wasps can fly at pretty surprising heights, as it happens, but that's nothing on spiders.
I read recently that scientists are pretty sure that spiders use electrical currents in the air, so as to fly, often for miles and miles. I hadn't known that it was in fact Darwin who first posited the idea that spiders could 'fly', because, when he was voyaging around Patagonia, his ship was suddenly concerned in seeing spiders literally out at sea, on the wind.
Back to the present day, spiders have clued up sufficiently, it is believed, to find the closest high point, such as the roof of a house, or the top of a tree, when its stormy weather, with a lot more electricity in the air, and spin a long piece of silk that then conducts electricity to not only give them lift off, but also allow them to navigate where they want to go.
That's almost devious!