Are there any animals that live in the clouds - or use them to hide from predators?

Are there any animals that live in the clouds - or use them to hide from predators?

Do the clouds offer safe harbour to any animals?

Published: January 1, 2025 at 5:46 pm

There don’t seem to be any animals that seek out clouds as a habitat. While it’s easy to imagine active flyers such as birds, bats and insects using clouds to hide from predators or prey, evidence that they do is lacking. 

Indeed, the poor visibility might be a good reason to avoid them. Same for all the water droplets and ice crystals, which might make flying difficult.

Then there is the weather and electrical activity associated with clouds. Even large birds can come a cropper in a storm and tend to steer clear.

However, streaked shearwaters have been tracked flying straight through the centre of cyclones to avoid flying over land, an even more dangerous prospect for a seabird.

The atmosphere also contains more passive travellers. Many spiders, nematode worms, seeds and spores disperse on the wind. A single cubic metre of sky contains up to 100 million bacteria. These are at least in part responsible for clouds’ formation, serving as points around which water vapour can condense. In which case, clouds gather around life forms rather than the other way round.

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