That's right, as if spiders weren't scary enough, now they're flying all over the place.
It's a technique called ballooning, or kiting, and spiders or any small invertebrates use it to get around.
Any small enough species of spider or spiderling will climb as high as possible, stand on its hind legs with an abdomen up, and then release several silk threads into the air from its spinnerets.
The silk threads act as a parachute and lift the spider into the air on an updraft, or uses the Earth's static electric field in windless conditions.
The good news is that spiders heavier than 1 milligram won't generally participate in ballooning due to their weight. It's also relatively dangerous to the spider, with plenty of deaths in the ballooning process, which means adult spiders will avoid doing it.
Still, the thought of thousands of tiny, baby spiders flying through the air is a terrifying. Watch the skies!
