Fly is the common name of various species of flying insects belonging to the order of Diptera (Diptera): there are more than 120,000 different species.
But despite their size and usually only a nuisance during the summer, these creatures are far rarer than they appear. Below are the facts about flies you should be aware about..
A homey and elusive creature
- Flies can travel six million times your body in one flight, according to a recent study. Fruit flies can fly up to 15 kilometers in a single trip, 6 million times their body length, or the equivalent of more than 10,000 kilometers for the average human. Compared to body length, this is more than many species of migratory birds can fly in one day.
- Under the influence of alcohol, flies are also sexually similar to humans. What was found is that alcohol consumption did not affect the duration of intercourse, but it reduced female choice and weakened the strength of mate preference, as females mated more quickly and with more males after consuming alcohol potentially reducing the force of sexual selection.
- Molecular motors that make the wings flap repeatedly have an energy efficiency rate of up to 40%. In other words, by doing some calculations we can answer a curious question: How many flies would it take to pull a car? 200 million.
- Flies, depending on the species, can live for very different times. But there is a myth that we must demolish: ephemeral women do not live only 24 hours, dedicated exclusively to sex. Depending on the species, it can even live less than a day, or more. But that is only the final stage of life: mayflies spend most of their lives as water nymphs, a period that can last from several months to four years.
- There is a very special type of fly in scientific studies. The fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, is a small insect about 3 millimeters long that grows on ripe fruit. Every week there are news of new scientific contributions that start from studying this small organism. It is small in size, with a life cycle of about two weeks, affordable to maintain and produces very large offspring. Numerous mutations also arise in their genes, and their entire genome has already been sequenced.
- It consists of three pairs of legs that act as limbs that have adherent pads that allow them to walk on smooth surfaces like glass, even upside down.
- A great reaction speed. Flies are able to process what they see and react to it incredibly fast, to put it in perspective: our brain processes around 60 images per second, whereas a fly can process up to 250 images per second.
- These insects have been venerated by different cultures throughout the centuries, the Egyptian being one of those that paid the most tribute to flies. In fact, the flies were seen by the pharaohs as synonymous with bravery and resistance to the enemy.
- Taste things through its paws. Flies have taste pupils in the last sections of their legs, so they can taste just by settling on the taste of anything from animal feces to your food .
- The head is small compared to the abdomen, and there are large, red eyes made up of thousands of individually light-sensitive facets (ommatidia) that constantly clean by rubbing their legs, arranged in circles and connecting directly to the brain.
- The house fly practically vomits digestive juices on solid food, these juices are able to dissolve your dish in small parts allowing you to use now without your mouth to take food, a process called “proboscis”. This can be seen perfectly in a terrifying scene from the movie ‘The Fly’.
- A single fruit fly can lay 500 eggs in its lifetime, and the life cycle from egg to adulthood only lasts about a week.
- Since house flies often feed on faeces, garbage and decomposing animals and lay eggs there and in other disgusting places, the common house fly is believed to transmit at least 65 diseases to people, including diarrhea, dysentery or cholera.
In Technoeager | The 5 most poisonous snakes in the world
