Did You Know? Flies

Flies: Historically Speaking …


• Houseflies existed 65 million years ago.
• Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics depict flies as a primary nuisance of the Nile River. Sadly for Egyptians, it would be several (hundred) years before the invention of the first flyswatter.
• Flies received a shout-out in the Bible. They were one of the plagues Moses brought down upon the house of Pharaoh. Flies have yet to sort out whether this amounted to good or bad PR.
• In 1923, swarms of black flies were responsible for the mass deaths of Rumanian and Bulgarian sheep, horses and cattle — about 20,000 livestock deaths in all.
• Like a few ambitious humans, flies have traveled to space aboard space shuttles.
• “The Fly” has been cinematically portrayed by David Hedison (1958), Jeff Goldblum (1986) and Eric Stoltz (1989). (Each somewhat inaccurately.)

Flies: Generally Speaking …

•  There are over 120,000 species of flies ranging in size from 1/20th of an inch to well over three inches.
•  After studying no fewer than 378,046 common house flies, Chinese entomologists estimated that each carried no fewer than 1,941,000 bacteria, sealing the fly’s fate as “Bug Most Likely to Ruin a Sandwich.”
•  Flies do not grow and are born full size. Sadly for them, being born an adult makes for a shorter life; most live an average of 21 days.
•  With 4,000 lenses in both eyes, most flies consider Lasik surgery outrageously complicated and almost certainly more trouble than it’s worth. This is also the reason you’ll rarely find a fly sporting daily-wear contact lenses … too expensive.
•  Flies insist on being “different” — they smell with their antennae and have only two wings (instead of four, like other flying insects).