Flies not only rub their legs together but also run their legs over their entire bodies.It is believed that flies clean more when they are amongst other flies in order to find a suitable mate. Flies rub their legs together on the wings and even over the head and other body parts, this behavior could also indicate their grooming habits.Flies are generally regarded as dirty insects that spread various contagious diseases. Scientists have explained that flies sit on dirty surfaces, pick up germs and then transfer them wherever they sit next. But these creatures are themselves known to follow a strict hygiene and grooming regimen. Read on to find out more about the cleaning habits of flies. Afterward, you can also read about flies like poop and why fireflies glow.Why do flies rub their hands together?Why does a fly rub its hands (or feet maybe, who knows)! This is what you find intriguing? Do you surely want to talk about insects, about Musca domestica or the housefly? It is said that this behavior is actually their cleaning process.Flies are nothing like other insects. One of the fly-specific movements is their rubbing behavior. Rubbing their legs together or hands together.It’s quite often that a fly lands on a table, book, you, or any other surface. You must have closely studied its various movements and watched it with complete devotion and made the big discovery that flies rub their hands and feet together! What is it doing here? You might find it weird that scientists have done full-fledged research to study the movements and behavior of flies. To know more about the tiny creature’s head, keep reading.Flies Can’t Get Rid Of Hygiene!All a fly does in its life is spread dirt and fevers, right? But every time you see flies rub their hands together, rub their legs, body, wings, and head, it is not that it’s grooming its hair for war, it is simply cleaning itself up!If you spend time watching closely, as I did when a fly landed on me, you could see tiny flies rub their forelimbs, wings, head, and hind legs too! It’s a detailed cleaning mechanism! They do so to get rid of the dirt off their ever-dirty bodies. This is a move to get their receptors and sensors clean to sense if what they have landed on is ready to eat or not. We talked about sensors and receptors while talking about flies!These little creatures walk all over the world with wings and legs and pick up dirty things from every possible surface so doesn’t it seem obvious that they need to get rid of the dust on them. A fly’s hygiene is its priority because they cannot risk dirt on their hands or legs since the next time they walk around to find food, the tiny hair helps them to sense the world around them.There is a university that researched this. This extensive cleaning mechanism of flies has even forced the University of Arizona to think of these tiny species as a model for hygiene for kindergartners.Poor Flies Can’t Smell Because They Don’t Have NosesHow do you find food that would taste good? Smell! Flies have sensors in antennae to detect food.Since the only way they are left with is using bodies to qualify if it’s good for eating or not, they have to keep the dust out. There are many other insects too that have sensors in antennae, and also micro sensors all over their bodies; for example, the cricket.The real strength of flies lies in their eyes. Flies use a mechanical way to see which in turn results in quicker and more efficient neural signals. In addition, due to the small size of the fly, the signal has to travel a very small distance to process information that they watch. Flies can see our movements in slow motion. This means you can actually never be fast enough to catch them. Let us all take a moment to admire these geniuses.Love Hygiene But Sit On Poop!Funny, we just admired that ‘oh so clean flies, how you are so clean’. But they literally feed on poop! This is particularly another weird behavior of flies, more specifically house fly. They relish rotten food and decaying organic filth which constitutes a great part of feces. But, there are other insects that don’t have similar behavior. For example; fruit flies find better taste in sugary fruits like overripe fruits and spilled drinks. Let us just give them the freedom to eat what they want.Lesser Hair, More Flies!Like all insects, flies too love the human body. Flies land on human bodies because they are attracted to your sweat, dead skin, and carbon dioxide. Unlike other insects, house flies, bush flies, and fruit flies do not bite your skin; flies rub their hands to touch you. They are attracted to oily hair, dirty skin, and open wounds.Tiny fruit flies and house flies can’t eat big chunks of food. This is why they vomit to liquefy solid food. It helps them to eat their food easily and with lesser difficulty; which gives rise to the fact that they prefer skin with lesser hair so they could have a larger area to vomit. So you probably have had the sweet vomit of fruit flies on your body!Fly Fly, Go Away, Don’t Come Again Another Day!Though flies rub their hands and feet together to constantly keep cleaning them, they feed on filth. This makes them dirty and better staying away from. Flies are one of the most common insects that communicate bacterial diseases.According to Tetro, the food touched by a fly is not necessarily dangerous to eat, unless you don’t find the fruit covered in flies. So, it’s not very dangerous but let’s all agree we don’t like these irritating house flies and fruit flies.Guys, Did You Know This About Flies!Flies keep rubbing their hands and rubbing their feet for hygiene. But there are so many more cooler things about them. For example, did you know that almost 61% of the human disease genes match that of fruit flies? Aren’t we just the same!Flies can walk upside down! Two of their feet, called pulvilli, have adhesive on them to let the insects move easily in any direction. With any direction comes another cool behavior. Flies can actually see in all directions and also in slow motion, which is why they judge our movement so much better than we can watch them.Flies are quite slow. They definitely don’t seem to be. These insects can fly only at 4.3 mph (7 kph), the speed at which we walk; but others of similar species like a dragonfly can fly at 35 mph (56.3 kph).Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for why do flies rub their hands together then why not read about why flies exist or glasswing butterfly facts?
Flies not only rub their legs together but also run their legs over their entire bodies.
