Should humankind cease to exist, house flies might share our fate.Were it not for environmental conditions and predation, we'd be overrun by house flies. Because house flies live on a liquid diet (see #6), things move rather quickly through their digestive tracts. When a house fly locates something tasty but solid, it regurgitates onto the food (which may be How do flies decide something is appetizing? This is where things get kind of gross. House Flies Are Relatively Young Insects in the World Does the Humble House Fly Vomit and Poop When it Lands on You?Dung Beetles and Tumblebugs, Subfamily Scarabaeinae
Slow motion video shows that a house fly will approach a ceiling by executing a half roll maneuver, and then will extend its legs to make contact with the substrate. Though believed to be native to Asia, house flies now inhabit nearly every corner of the globe.
In urban areas, where people live in close proximity and there is plenty of garbage and other filth to be found, house flies have small territories and may only fly 1,000 meters or so.
That's no typo.
Each of the house fly's legs bears a tarsal claw with a sticky pad of sorts, so the fly is able to grip almost any surface, from smooth window glass to a ceiling.There's a saying, "Never poop where you eat." With the exception of Antarctica and perhaps a few islands, house flies live everywhere people do. By using ThoughtCo, you accept our 1. House flies are synanthropic organisms, meaning they benefit ecologically from their association with humans and our domesticated animals.
As an order, true flies are ancient creatures …
ThoughtCo uses cookies to provide you with a great user experience. It may surprise you to learn, then, that they're generally slow fliers, maintaining a speed of about 4.5 miles per hour.
House flies have sponge-like mouthparts, which are good for soaking up liquefied substances but not for eating solid foods.
Sage advice, most would say.
A house fly will land on a pile of dog poop, inspect it thoroughly with its feet, and then fly over to your picnic table and walk around on your hamburger bun for a bit. House Flies Live Almost Everywhere There Are People 2. Conversely, house flies are rarely found in the wilderness or in places where humans are absent. Their food and breeding sites are already overflowing with bacteria, and then they vomit and defecate on them to add to the mess. So, the house fly either seeks out food that is already in puddle form, or it finds a way to turn the food source into something it can manage. Debbie Hadley is a science educator with 25 years of experience who has written on science topics for over a decade. Nearly House flies move when environmental conditions compel them to do so. But rural house flies will roam far and wide in search of manure, covering up to 7 miles over time.
House Flies Are Relatively Young Insects in the World.
As humans throughout history traveled to new lands by ship, plane, train, or horse-drawn wagon, house flies were their travel companions. The longest flight distance recorded for a house fly is 20 miles.House flies feed and breed in the things we revile: garbage, animal dung, sewage, human excrement, and other nasty substances.
Like Because house flies thrive in places that are teeming with pathogens, they have a bad habit of carrying disease-causing agents with them from place to place. Hear that buzzing sound? That's the rapid movement of a house fly's wings, which can beat up to 1,000 times per minute. House flies are known to transmit at least 65 diseases and infections, including cholera, dysentery, giardiasis, typhoid, leprosy, conjunctivitis, salmonella, and many more.You probably knew that already, but do you know how they perform this gravity-defying feat? They step on it!