Why Are Flies So Hard To Swat? - video Dailymotion

Skip to player Skip to main content

12 hours ago

One secret is their specialized hind wings. High-speed cameras show that flies' modified hind wings help with their speedy takeoffs.

Category

Transcript

Display full video transcript

00:00Why are flies so hard to swat?

00:04A fly buzzes past your head and lands nearby.

00:08You grab a fly swatter and you strike.

00:12But no matter how quick you are, the fly escapes unharmed.

00:16What is it that makes flies so hard to swat?

00:20Flies have many adaptations that give them extra speed, maneuverability

00:24and perception, making them very, very good at

00:28protecting and evading your swats. And new evidence shows

00:32that one of the ways they do that is with vibrations of stick-like structures

00:36with a knob at the end, called halteers.

00:40When halteers vibrate during flight, they're sensing body rotations and

00:44transmitting information to the flies' wings, which helps flies to stabilize their bodies.

00:48However, houseflies also vibrate their halteers

00:52while walking, but scientists didn't know why. So they looked at

00:56houseflies and their close relatives to see if oscillating halteers

01:00affected how the flies launch into the air.

01:02Scientists filmed flies during takeoff using high-speed cameras,

01:06recording footage at speeds up to 3,000 frames per second.

01:10They found that houseflies, and other closely related flies,

01:14launch themselves around five times faster than other flies,

01:18and with just one wingbeat.

01:20When scientists removed those flies' halteers,

01:22it took them longer to take off, and some took a nosedive

01:26and crash-landed.

01:28But halteers aren't the only secret weapon in a fly's evasive arsenal.

01:32Fruit flies can change course in under one one-hundredth of a second,

01:36about 50 times faster than an eye can blink.

01:40Flies also have exceptional vision, which helps them react to a threat,

01:44and adjust their trajectory within milliseconds before takeoff.

01:50With all these built-in advantages,

01:52it's no wonder that the fly you're trying to swat

01:54can easily escape and just buzz off.

01:58Aerodynamic flies.

02:02Just another one of life's little mysteries.

Be the first to comment

Add your comment

Recommended

Bright Green Fireball Lights Up Skies Over Northeast US States

7 hours ago

OTD In Space - January 11: William Herschel Discovers 2 Moons of Uranus

7 hours ago

Walking On The Moon At 30,000 Feet - Space.com Trains Like An Astronaut In Wild Ride

7 hours ago

401(k) Balances By Age Group: Are You On Track?

7 hours ago

How Are Employee Bonuses Are Taxed?

7 hours ago

Things You Should Know About Hurricane Insurance Claims

9 hours ago

Is EVANS Hybrid Sensory Percussion The Most Advanced Drum Setup Out There?

3 weeks ago

Strymon Cloudburst Sound Demo

5 weeks ago

One Of The Most Complete Triceratops Skeletons In The World

7 hours ago

Naked Mole Rats Dig Carbon Dioxide

7 hours ago

Footage Of Hayabusa2 Spacecraft Touchdown On Asteroid Ryugu

7 hours ago

The Sun's Possible Long Lost Twin

8 hours ago

Do You Need To Eat Meat To Get Protein?

8 hours ago

1st Image of Our Galaxy's Black Hole Heart

9 hours ago

Ice Volcanoes On Lake Michigan?

9 hours ago

Can Boa Constrictors Breathe While They Constrict?

9 hours ago

Bees Scream When Murder Hornet Cousins Attack

9 hours ago

5000 Comets Discovered Using Space-Based Sun Observatory

9 hours ago

Video Captures Underwater Volcano Spewing Mud And Methane In The Barents Sea

9 hours ago

What Will Happen To Seattle When The Big Earthquake Hits?

10 hours ago

How Do We Know Earth is Round?

11 hours ago

Dinosaur Shrimp Emerges After Arizona Monsoon

11 hours ago

How Were the Egyptian Pyramids Built?

12 hours ago

What's The Oldest Tree On Earth?

12 hours ago

10 Strange Sights On Google Earth

12 hours ago