Has this ever happened to you? There’s a fly in the house, buzzing around you, so you go to the cabinet to get the swatter. But as soon as you start wielding it, the little bastard disappears. You set it down, and now he’s back, taunting you.

Ok so obviously flies don’t taunt, but do they have the capacity to recognize, even instinctually, that I’m holding a deadly weapon?

  • eroc1990@lemmy.parastor.net
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    1 year ago

    Instinctively, I doubt it. But they can pick up on the air moving around from you trying to swat at it, which is why it’s such a pain in the ass to capture to release or kill one. They are able to tell well before they’re captured/caught that something is coming for them.

    This BU blog entry from 2012 gives a lot of interesting information on the many ways they are able to evade us.

    • atlasraven31@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      We have 2 advantages: we can build tools for specialized purposes, like killing flies. We can analyze misses and predict where a fly will be when it tries to evade a strike.

      • Mr_Blott@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        How the fuck have we not got wee mini computer controlled lasers yet that take them out like a micro size star wars thingy

    • treefrog@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      They’re easy to catch with a plastic cup and a piece of paper.

      I don’t think I have killed a fly in nearly a decade.