Houdini talents of swatted flies
Published Date:
29 August 2008
Incredibly quick thinking accounts for the maddening ability of flies to avoid being swatted, scientists have discovered.
High-speed imaging of flies in action revealed their amazing ability to plan and execute an emergency take-off in a split second.
Long before making the leap, the fly calculates the location of the threat, works out an escape plan, and positions its legs for a jump in the safest direction. All this occurs within 200 milliseconds from the time the fly first spots the looming swatter.
In the US experiments, reported in the journal Current Biology, scientists dropped a 14-centimetre black disc onto fruit flies standing on a small platform. They found that if the disc approached from in front of the fly, the insect moved its middle legs forward and leaned back. It then raised and extended its legs to push off backwards.
When the threat came from behind, the fly moved its middle legs slightly backwards before leaping forwards.
Danger from one side caused the insect to keep its middle legs stationary, lean its whole body in the opposite direction, and then jump.
The full article contains 190 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
-
Last Updated:
29 August 2008 9:24 AM
-
Source:
n/a
-
Location:
Yorkshire
