Wherever you will not find these annoying insects - from northern latitudes to the tropics! It is worth leaving some food unattended - and they are right there.
A fly is a disgusting insect, perseverance, determination and importunity of which are able to drive out of themselves the most imperturbable person. And it seems that this unpleasant neighborhood is forever - it is believed that it is impossible to exterminate the flies.
It is estimated that if the offspring of just one pair within five months create optimal conditions for development, the entire globe will be covered with a layer of flies 14.3 meters thick. True, this is unlikely, because the life of a fly takes place within a radius of only one hundred meters from the place of birth. Although there are cases when they were carried by the wind for tens of kilometers.
DANGEROUS NEIGHBORHOOD
There are about 5000 species of flies on Earth, of which about 1000 live in the vastness of Russia. Many of these insects do not annoy humans. But there are varieties that are our constant companions and are of great epidemiological importance. Such insects are classified as synanthropic species. This is a housefly, housefly, market fly, blue meat fly, green carrion fly, etc.
From childhood, we have learned well that flies are dangerous carriers of infection. No wonder, because their favorite habitats are garbage dumps, dumps, sewage, latrines. They are attracted by everything that perishes, rotting and decaying. Scientists have found that on the body of only one individual can be from six to ten million different microbes! This is only outside, and in the intestines there are still up to thirty million! This would be quite enough to infect the population of a small country with many diseases. Among them are dysentery, cholera, typhoid fever, anthrax, poliomyelitis, diphtheria and many others.
However, no matter how much humanity struggled over the problem of exterminating flies, no one was able to solve it. The fact is that "tsokotuhi" are very prolific. A female housefly can lay up to 150 eggs at a time! During her short life, she manages to produce offspring four times, half of which are also females. That is, under absolutely favorable conditions in one summer alone, the offspring of one fly would have amounted to approximately five trillion individuals! Fortunately, what scientists could not do, nature does. Various beetles, spiders, frogs, toads and birds feed on flies. And fly agarics destroy them quite actively.
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There is no exact information about the origin of the flies. But their love for warmth suggests that flies appeared in warm latitudes, and from there, following a person, they settled everywhere. After all, it is a person in any climate that creates favorable conditions for them: warm housing, waste of life, rotting waste, which also emit heat necessary for the larvae. Flies lay their larvae even in thermal springs, the temperature of which reaches 55 degrees! In California, they even breed in oil lakes. Moreover, the larvae of these "oil" flies have some kind of adaptation, similar to scuba gear. And adults calmly pass oil through the digestive system, without suffering at all.
IDEAL OF AIRCRAFT DESIGNER
For engineers and aircraft designers, the fly is a real treasure trove of ideas and engineering solutions. It does not need takeoff and acceleration, it takes off immediately at full speed. In addition, she can masterly maneuver, performing aerobatics, fly belly up, hover in the air. And at the same time move at a relative speed that exceeds the speed of modern aircraft. All this is provided by only two wings and two halteres located behind them, which are the appendages of the thoracic region. This readiness to fly is explained by the fact that halteres are in constant motion, even when the fly is sitting. Wings vibrate from them, so no acceleration is required in order for the insect to take off. In addition, halteres are flight control devices and provide balance to the fly.
An interesting fact: the insect lands only from north to south or from west to east. Another feature of flies is to "hang upside down above us", violating the law of gravity. Everything is explained simply: at the end of each insect leg there are sharp claws with which they cling to the surface. In addition, there are suction cups between the claws, thanks to which the flies can move even along the mirror-smooth ceiling.
BASED BREEDERS
"House" fly eats the same thing as a man. She finds food not only with the help of sight and smell, but also by touch. As soon as a fly walking on the surface stumbles upon something edible, the taste buds in the form of hairs located at the end of the forelegs give a signal - food! And flies love to eat, and they need it every hour. Seeing "lunch", the fly spreads its proboscis and plunges it into the delicacy. The insect gives preference to warm food. When one finds an opportunity to profit, the others immediately join her. Some species are able to absorb not only liquid food and select liquid from the mixture, but they can even "bite off" solid pieces. Blood-sucking flies living in pastures can easily pierce the skin of a cow or horse with their proboscis.
FORBIDDEN DELICATES
The fact that flies eat everything in a row is no surprise. But even among them there are real gourmets who eat only certain foods, for example, onions or carrots. And there are cheese flies - pyophilids, which live and breed only in cheese and, it should be noted, not cheap. For example, in Sardinia, cheese is made "Casu Marzu", which is said to have a spicy taste. So this product is obtained using pyofilid larvae. It happens in the following way: in the most ordinary, slightly tainted cheese, larvae start and process it in a certain way. Such a product cannot be stored for a long time, it must be eaten quickly. It is advisable, of course, to first remove the still living producers from it, otherwise at the most inopportune moment they may jump, for example, into your eye or into your mouth. And wow, there are those who want to try this "delicacy". Moreover,that gastric juice does not destroy the larvae, and they may well settle in the stomach, grow there and even reproduce. At best, they will leave the body naturally, and at worst, they will provoke inflammation of the gastric mucosa. Maybe that's why, despite the presence of extreme gourmets, this cheese is not allowed to be sold in Italy.
This is not an isolated case of human consumption of flies. Snipe flies living in North America die as soon as they lay their eggs. Local Indians collect these corpses and bake buns with them that look like a bun with raisins.
ORDER OF THE FLY
It looks strange, but the ancient Egyptians had respect for flies. The fly was a symbol of audacity, determination and assertiveness. That is why the warriors, distinguished by special courage, were awarded medals in the form of a fly. Indeed, someone who is going to conquer the whole world must be the same as a fly: impudent, brave, arrogant.
Let's add: and indestructible …
Galina BELYSHEVA