The second voyage of the HMS Beagle is famous for the many observations of it’s young naturalist, Charles Darwin. You may have heard of him.

What you may not have heard about is his account of the phenomenon of spider ballooning on a calm day in October 1832.

After the ship was inundated with spiders about 100km off the coast of Argentina the young biologist observed one spider “elevate its abdomen, send forth a thread, and then sail away horizontally, but with a rapidity which was quite unaccountable”  

So how did they do it?

Dr. Erica Morley is a Senior Research Associate in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Bristol joins Jonathan to discuss.