Here’s How That Annoying Fly Dodges Your Swatter
Don't despair – there *is* a trick to smacking these infuriating insects.
From
Here’s How That Annoying Fly Dodges Your Swatter
Season 7 Episode 20 | 4m 33sVideo has Audio Description, Closed Captions
Don't despair – there *is* a trick to smacking these infuriating insects.
A fly has a pair of tiny, dumbbell-shaped limbs called halteres that were once a second pair of wings. They wield them to make razor-sharp turns and land out of reach on your ceiling. But don't despair – there *is* a trick to smacking these infuriating insects.
From
Problems with Closed Captions? Closed Captioning Feedback
Problems with Closed Captions? Closed Captioning Feedback
Here’s How That Annoying Fly Dodges Your Swatter
Season 7 Episode 20 | 4m 33sVideo has Audio Description, Closed Captions
A fly has a pair of tiny, dumbbell-shaped limbs called halteres that were once a second pair of wings. They wield them to make razor-sharp turns and land out of reach on your ceiling. But don't despair – there *is* a trick to smacking these infuriating insects.
From
Problems with Closed Captions? Closed Captioning Feedback
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship♪ (narrator) Everybody loves a picnic.
With that straw-like proboscis, this fly is going to slurp your lunch if you let it.
Add in a little regurgitated liquid, and it turns your burger into a shake.
It carries hundreds of types of bacteria around on its legs and in its gut.
Think you can take it on?
A fly is a formidable opponent.
Its hairs and antennae feel the air move as you approach.
And just look at its bulging eyes.
It can see you coming from nearly every angle.
Its eyes and tiny brain process information ten times faster than ours.
To a fly, we appear downright sluggish.
In the air, it's in its element.
Check out those razor-sharp turns.
Sticks the landing, gone in a flash.
If you look at a fly really close up, you'll see how it does it.
Check out that club-shaped part moving back and forth, right below its wing.
It's called a haltere.
It's what makes those athletic moves possible.
Scientists have identified 200,000 kinds of flies.
They all have halteres.
Haltere means "dumbbell" in Greek.
See that dumbbell shape on this crane fly?
Flies have two wings and a pair of halteres.
The halteres actually evolved from wings.
Most other insects have four wings.
As the fly turns, its halteres sense the movement.
In a split second, neurons at the base of the haltere send information to the fly's muscles to steer its wings and keep its head steady.
When researchers remove a fly's halteres, it can no longer control its flight.
It loses all sense of where its body is in space.
Unfortunately for you, the fly sucking on your apple is in top shape.
If it gets inside your house, its halteres will help it do a fly's signature move-- the ceiling landing.
It hangs there with tiny hooks and sticky pads on its feet.
The pads, called pulvilli, have microscopic hairs that excrete liquid.
That liquid sticks to the surface under pressure, kind of like suction.
Despite the fly's arsenal of slick tools, next time you go hunting, here's one trick you can try.
A fly struggles to see objects that are still.
So if you go very slowly and then pounce, you might stand a chance.
Nice shot.
Oh, good, you're still there.
It's Laura.
Do you wish you could fly?
Well, we've got your playlist-- 20-plus episodes of majestic hummingbirds, delicate butterflies, bees, ladybugs, pelicans, and, of course, a few blood-sucking parasites.
Later.
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