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.

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