Skip to main content

HOW FRUIT FLIES OUT-FLY FIGHTER JETS


Fruit flies are an amazing example of speed and escape talent. These creatures can escape danger at an amazing speed, even at birth.

Consider this: a fruit fly can flap its wings up to 200 times per second with each flap capable of changing its direction. Interestingly, the wings of fruit flies are so soft and weigh almost nothing.

Flight speed and escape ability of fruit flies

A fruit fly can rotate and turn as many times as a fighter or military jet. According to howstuffworks.com, some modern fighter jets can rotate and make turns as fast as 970 km/h or nearly 270 m/s. A fruit fly, like the one used in an experiment at the University of Washington and explained by Professor Michael Dickinson, can make a V-turn and rotation that's similar to a fighter jet but at a higher speed, and can even go five times faster than its usual flight speed when in danger. 

Fruit flies can turn in a fraction of 1/100 seconds or about 50 times the speed at which humans blink their eyes. For more clarity, think of the ability to flap its wings 200 times in a second and still make a complete V-turn before the third flap! Its ability to rotate to its sides at about 90 degrees or more is also remarkable owing to the fact that this action is carried out at almost the same speed described earlier.

As for baby fruit flies, they also prove to be amazing at flight. It is like putting a week-old baby on the pilot seat of a jet and watching it ride excellently! The most amazing thing about the fruit fly in relation to these wonderful abilities it has is the size of its brain, which is equivalent to a grain of salt.

Scientists hope that they would in time find out how this mystery creature performs its complicated high-speed calculations to achieve these incredible speed and escape. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

GECKOS POSSESS PINS

“What for?” you may ask. After all, they could hurt someone or something, or they could even be hurt by their own pins. Amazingly, the pins are too tiny, soft and flexible to even hurt anyone or anything. That is why, if you’ve ever had a wall gecko climb on you, you would never see any scar on your body. The information you are about to read reveal the very reason gecko lizards can climb and walk on almost any surface. It was discovered that gecko lizards possess extremely tiny hairs under each of their feet. These hairs rise and flatten, and can be detached easily from surfaces because of the direction, or angle, in which they grow. These hair-like pins, more appropriately called setae , also have several smaller parts on each of them, making them look like ceiling brooms.  The tinier hairs, which are more of fiber, are called spatulae . The setae are made of keratin_ the same material human fingers are made of. Due to their structure, size, mass number and the material with ...

HOW SOME LIVING ORGANISMS USE THEIR LIGHT

You may have heard about living things that display colourful lights. In fact, plants like some fungi and algae species produce beautiful light at night. Fireflies produce light to attract prospective mates.  But some animals use their light for hunts or protection. Let's take some classic examples. Hunts Have you ever heard about a monstrous-looking fish called Deep-sea angler fish ? These deep sea little monsters produce light using bacteria living in the pole, or long organ on its head. By producing light on this organ and moving it back and forth, they succeed at getting the attention of smaller fishes. These smaller fishes find this attractive, but unfortunately they are being deceived . They only realize this once it is too late because as soon as they get too close to the hungry monster who is hunting stand-still, they are eaten at once! Protection And you're in here for 'special treats.' We would consider three amazing underwater creatures here, so let's get...

HOW CATS SEE AND TOUCH THE INVISIBLE

  Did the title surprise you? Well, don’t be, for nothing shows that cats can see spirits. In this context, the “invisible” are visible things hidden from sight because of darkness. So how do cats find their way and even hunt comfortably in the dark? The secret lies in their whiskers, or vibrissae . Cat whiskers are super sensitive to pressure, even air pressure. The slightest movement of air is noticed by these whiskers. How are they so equipped? Cat whiskers are joined to tissues that are connected to so many sensitive threads called nerves . These nerves connect directly to the brain of cats and act as direct messengers to the brain. Since the connection process between the brain and the whiskers is almost direct and involves soft sensitive tissues and cells, the brain can easily detect even the things that pass by the whiskers. Cat whiskers have a lot of functions that are not even fully understood. They can sense the movement of animals and obstacles around because of ai...