Spiders, Ahoy! 8-Legged Critters Can 'Sail' Over Water

by Elizabeth Palermo, Staff Writer | July 06, 2015 10:17am ET

Spiders can dance on water like tiny ballerinas pirouetting across a slippery stage. But unlike a ballet, this arachnid dance routine isn't just for show, a new study finds.

Researchers discovered that spider dancing (also known as spider sailing) is a part of the "ballooning" process — a popular method of transportation for many species of spiders. When ballooning, spiders typically climb to the top of a plant, stick their spinnakers into the air and shoot out a long strand of silk, which catches a breeze and hoists the silk (and the spider) into the air.

But unlike a person riding in a hot air balloon, a ballooning spider has no control over the route it takes or the spot where it touches down. And sometimes, it lands right on top of a body of water. Previously, researchers assumed a ballooning spider that landed on water was a lost cause, according to study lead author Morito Hayashi, team leader of the zoology department at the Natural History Museum of London. [See photos of spiders "sailing" and "dancing" on water]

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Dancing Bees Show Researchers The Way To The Best Environmental Schemes

May 25, 2014

Garrett Staas for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

Honey bees are able to help promote growth within their environment by spreading pollen and feeding on nectar, and according to a new study, bees are able to dance in order to tell their brethren where the nearest and most pollen rich sources can be found.

Researchers from Europe call it the “waggle dance,” which the bees use to convey specific information, including distance and direction, of sources for foraging.

By “eavesdropping” on 5,484 bee waggle dances, the researchers were able to measure the distance needed to travel based on the length of the dance. They then measured the angle of the bee’s dance to determine the direction they should travel. The typical distance for best foraging was an average of 94 kilometers away. By using a protractor and a timer, the researchers found that they could collect all this information from the bee’s dance, which typically only lasts a few minutes.

“Imagine the time, manpower, and cost to survey such an area on foot—to monitor nectar sources for quality and quantity of production, to count the number of other flower-visiting insects to account for competition, and then to do this over and over for two foraging years,” said Margaret Couvillon of the Laboratory of Apiculture and Social Insects at the University of Sussex, in a Cell Press statement. “Instead, we have let the honeybees do the hard work of surveying the landscape and integrating all relevant costs and then providing, through their dance communication, this biologically relevant information about landscape quality.”

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