There is a spider which achieves its own
peculiar kind of record for high flying;
it travels through the sky
on the end of a silk thread.
For a money spider this is quite a simple trick.
It starts to spin silk
which is gradually drawn out
into a long thread by currents of air
and the spider then takes off,
borne along by the breeze.
The warm air causes the thread,
with the spider on the end of it,
to fly upward like a kite and
aeroplanes in the USA have met them
as high up as 4300 metres. (over 2 miles)
The distance the spider travels will vary
with the strength of the wind, but
an airborn hop of as much as 200 kilometres (about 140 miles)
has been measured.
Towards evening its journey comes to an end:
the thread picks up moisture from the atmosphere,
becomes too heavy and so gradually comes down,
and the spider parachutes into fresh territory.  ¶ 22:19