Strolling the boardwalks at Parc National de Plaisance with the kids last week, we kept walking into long, thin strands of spider silk. Eventually, we spotted one of the culprits atop a rail & could see the threads it was spinning high into the air glimmering in the sun. It brought to mind some footage I'd seen on the BBC a while back documenting how spiders fly. Sure enough, we stuck around for another minute or two & got to see the little guy take to the skies.

I'd never have stopped to watch had I not known that it was feasible for spiders to fly (apparently by leveraging the Atmospheric Potential Gradient—a globe-spanning electric circuit that is perpetually present in the atmosphere). In the event you never knew, now you do & perhaps, someday, can witness the magic of wingless, natural flight firsthand, too.

🎥 BBC Footage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSG4cFysbGU

🔬 Research from Bristol University https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2018/july/spiders-electric-fields-.html

🥾 Parc National de Plaisance https://www.sepaq.com/pq/pla/information.dot?language_id=1