THE EXTRAORDINARY ABILITIES OF HOUSEFLIES TO ESCAPE DEATH

Does it surprise you to think that an animal can escape death, talk less of a housefly? Of course it shouldn’t. Remember the first science post on this blog that explained how fireflies escape danger, thanks to their wing speed and exceptional flying skills. Like fireflies, houseflies obviously have wing speed and flying skills, though they flap their wings at a much lesser speed than fireflies, that is 80 times per second, compared to fireflies that flap theirs 200 times per second.

However, this post is not about speed or flight skills. This is about surviving a death trap. So just picture the following scenario.

You used a local African broom to hit a housefly so that it doesn’t fly anymore, but you still manage to leave it alive so that you can punish it. You carry a condemned water bottle and fill it almost to the brim with water. After that, you picked up the weak fly, put it inside the water bottle (maybe even use a small stick to push the fly down the liquid to drown it since it will most times stay floating) and cover it tight. What would you expect to happen?

Of course, the expectation is that the housefly will drown and die. However, this is the shocking news from personal experience: your scheme to kill this fly will turn into an experiment! The housefly will survive longer than would you expect. How does it do it?

The houseflies are equipped with holes called spiracles through which they breathe air, just like our nostrils. These spiracles are a part of the trachea, the respiratory system of insects. But, unlike our nostrils, these spiracles can close tight for up to 5 hours to prevent things like dust and water from blocking the trachea. This is possible because of the amazing way these insects breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon-dioxide. During these 5 hours, something else will happen that might surprise you.

The housefly will form a bubble all around itself while gently walking around the corners of the bottle. This bubble will keep it dry even while inside this water trap. All these abilities help the housefly forge its temporary SCUBA or Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus and survive your attempt to kill it for up to 5 hours!

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LITTLE SECRETS IN THE WINGS OF BUTTERFLIES

Considering the kind of environment in which butterflies flourish, it is expected that they would find flying around difficult. This is because their wings are so soft and light that even little dust particles or water droplets can make their wings heavy for them. Surprisingly, though, the butterflies are mostly observed clean and dry. What’s the big secret? Let’s consider the Giant Blue Morpho butterflies . Like other butterflies, these Morpho butterflies have wings that look flat and feel extremely smooth. However, research confirms that they are structured in layers, in step-by-step pattern. In addition to the step-by-step arrangement, each layer has grooves or open lines, just like gutters dug in the ground. This efficient design makes it possible and easy for any dirt or water moisture to fall away. To understand this more clearly, think of this illustration: What could happen if a small ball the height (or diameter) of a CD is kept on top of roofing sheets that are about

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 whic

Welcome to Land, Air and Sea Live Sciences

Here, we share information and discuss facts about living things that surround our beautiful planet. We will be sharing with you facts about animals and plants and, indeed, the interesting things about live sciences. I am Samuel Amarachi Ejiemenu, The Publisher of LAS Live Sciences.

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