To disperse, many young spiders climb to a high point, raise their abdomen and release silk threads that carry them into the air. In 2018, researchers showed that the atmosphere's natural electric field is enough to trigger and lift this takeoff, even with no wind. These aerial travelers have been found kilometers up in the sky and far out at sea.
In 2022, a young tagged bar-tailed godwit flew from Alaska to Tasmania in about 11 days of nonstop flight, covering 13,560 km without eating, drinking or landing. Before departure, these birds pile on huge fat reserves and shrink their digestive organs, which are useless during the journey.
To escape rivals, a dung beetle rolls its ball of dung in a straight line. At night, it holds its course using the glowing band of the Milky Way. In a planetarium, researchers showed that beetles rolled straight under a starry sky but wandered aimlessly when the galaxy was switched off. It was the first animal known to navigate this way.