Moments with Yaya
Fly
Yaya watches a fly buzz around above her head, and thoughts of wonder flood her little mind. This interesting little bug with wings flies so fast, in an almost annoying but fascinating way. Don’t land on my food Mr Fly, I don’t want any germs!
LEARN ABOUT A FLY
Flies are attracted to any food sources and be a devastating health risk. Did you know, that a common house fly basically lives on liquids? To do this, they will land on any food lying around, and regurgitate their digestive juices o the food particles which breaks it down into a liquid form or smaller pieces, allowing them to gobble it up! Flies don’t have teeth but have a long thin tube like tongue which allows them to suck nectar or even blood. They taste their food not with their mouths but with their feet! Their little feet have tiny taste receptors which allow them to conveniently taste whatever they land on. Flies can spread bacteria such as Salmonella and E.coli to humans by contaminating the food we eat. So when you see a fly heading towards your lunch, it’s a good idea to chase it away. Flies don’t liv very long at all, with an average lifespan of about 30 days. In this short time, they can lay around 500 eggs and regenerate a large population of baby flies before they die. Two popular flies that we see are the common house fly and the fruit fly.
Fruit flies have six legs and are tan or light brown in colour. They feast on rotting fruit and vegetables and love to hang around the garbage.
House flies are a darker grey colour also with six legs. They will eat literally anything that is left out for them to snack on.
You will notice how difficult it is to swat a fly, as their flying speed is faster than most insects. They are extremely quick, even with only two wings. Flies have hairy legs and sticky feet and can even hang upside down from the ceiling. There are over 100 thousand different kinds of flies in the world. Although flies like to snack on our human treats, other animals such as frogs, birds and snakes like to snack on flies.
Flies love to hang around smelly garbage and rotting food. Unfortunately, this is where they pick up most of the bacteria that makes humans sick. By keeping food covered when you not eating it, and keeping your home clean and sanitised, you can avoid those pesky flies.
